Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Japan’s lost generation is still jobless and living with their parents

bloomberg.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

141–150 of 354 posts

Re: Japan’s lost generation is still jobless and living with their parents

#141

Post by sbierwagen »

maerF0x0 wrote: post #127

I feel like the "Jobless and living with parents" pejorative is missing the mark. Jobless -- So what? If a country has figured out how to provide for its people w/o jobs, so what? For example if we had perfect AI-robot slaves we'd all be jobless. Would it be a problem? Maybe we should ask people why they want a job, maybe what they want to do doesnt require one? "Living with their parents" - Again, so what? Much of t…

You appear to be replying to an entirely different article than the one in this submission.

Re: Japan’s lost generation is still jobless and living with their parents

#142

Post by resoluteteeth »

maerF0x0 wrote: post #127

I feel like the "Jobless and living with parents" pejorative is missing the mark. Jobless -- So what? If a country has figured out how to provide for its people w/o jobs, so what? For example if we had perfect AI-robot slaves we'd all be jobless. Would it be a problem? Maybe we should ask people why they want a job, maybe what they want to do doesnt require one? "Living with their parents" - Again, so what? Much of t…

> Jobless -- So what? If a country has figured out how to provide for its people w/o jobs, so what?

This is a fair point, but the problem in this case is that the country hasn't figured out how to provide for them.

Re: Japan’s lost generation is still jobless and living with their parents

#143

Post by alexashka »

growlist wrote: post #28
pmlnr wrote: post #4

Japan has the problems now we, Western society will be facing in 20 years. This has been true since the 80s, so it's be nice to learn from it, and not follow it.

I don't understand why Western countries are not incentivising people to have children.

You'd need to make a compelling reason for incentivizing it if anything.

Western countries are incentivized by corporate interests. Corporate interests don't care for children because they get in the way of profits. You'd need someone who can rise above corporate interests to do things like health care, children, human rights, etc.

Re: Japan’s lost generation is still jobless and living with their parents

#144

Post by andi999 »

latch wrote: post #90
eru wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I've traveled a fair bit, and every part of Japan that I've been to feels like I've timed-traveled 20 years into a better future [compared to anywhere else I've been]. Have you been to Singapore?

Yes, lived there for 4 years.

Fron when to when? I lived there between 2004 and 2009 and I thought there were a a lot of transitions (like the era matters a lot).

Re: Japan’s lost generation is still jobless and living with their parents

#145

Post by NewOrderNow »

maerF0x0 wrote: post #140
saagarjha wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's because the scenario you've mentioned does not describe these households. The problem here is that there are adults who are partially or wholly supported by their parents in a house where they are not living with (nor was it designed for them to live with) a spouse or children.

Again. We're failing to address the "so what?" What does this scenario represent that is _the actual problem_ of the matter?

This comment seems to be the antithesis of what this community is trying to accomplish, which is asking the what

Re: Japan’s lost generation is still jobless and living with their parents

#146

Post by legerdemain »

cco wrote: post #119
hindsightbias wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I watch NHK US a bit. Every night they have some show with a westerner riding some train line or riding a bike around and the landscape - which is pretty thin on people. Train lines manned by retired workers just to keep them going. Cyclist stops at at famous peach or strawberry orchards and there is some 90 year old on their knees weeding, kids are all in the city. Of course, it will all become industrial agro-farmi…

This sounds interesting, I'd love to watch it, could you link to one of those videos? I see lots of video results for NHK US, but a lot don't seem to be of the type that you're talking about.

NHK is just a national broadcaster, like NBC in the US. I assume the grandparent means semi-promotional documentaries about the Japanese countryside, like this.[1]

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s6yhndEdqrI

Re: Japan’s lost generation is still jobless and living with their parents

#147

Post by kyuudou »

plutonorm wrote: post #96
Broken_Hippo wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What sorts of dreams can you follow when you are broke? I mean, realistically? And creative endeavors - how are your affording these things? Are your hobbies cheap? Does the stress of non-work bother you? Were you lucky enough to have decent compensation when you were unemployed or have someone else to support you? How in the world do you "go on benefits" if you are able-bodied? Are you in a country where benefits me…

Poverty would be fine if I had the chance to work on what I want to work on. All I need is a computer for my work. I could work on mathematics, physics, I could write a novel. I could read academic papers day in day out, gorge on information. It would be wonderful.

And shelter? Sewer? You could conceivably be a nomad but that takes some effort and still has baseline costs.

Re: Japan’s lost generation is still jobless and living with their parents

#148

Post by saagarjha »

maerF0x0 wrote: post #140
saagarjha wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's because the scenario you've mentioned does not describe these households. The problem here is that there are adults who are partially or wholly supported by their parents in a house where they are not living with (nor was it designed for them to live with) a spouse or children.

Again. We're failing to address the "so what?" What does this scenario represent that is _the actual problem_ of the matter?

It's just not sustainable if everyone did this. The economy needs people who are gainfully employed and not single and living with their parents. I say this as someone who is single and currently living with my parents.

Re: Japan’s lost generation is still jobless and living with their parents

#149

Post by astura »

watwut wrote: post #50

The American obsession over living or not with parents sounds almost pathological to me. Being jobless is issue. Long term inability to find partner is issue. But, if you don't have partner, what exactly is the reason for moving to live alone and why is focus specifically on "omg someone lives with parents"? I mean, multigenerational households were historical norm. It is not something super special that happened jus…

So, there's a huge difference between these two situations:

1) Being roommates with your parents when everyone is adults, have appropriate adult relationships, and everyone contributes to the household

2) Perpetually staying a child and never moving out because you don't have the skills to live without being taken care of by your parents. (Think about the movie "Stepbrothers")

It just ends up being that in the US most people who don't move out are part of the second group. So that's why it has negative connotations, because it's more likely than not someone who is living at home is doing so because they haven't grown up, not because they want a roommate who is also a close family member. It's been my experience that the adults who have adult relationships with their parents and are living with their parents actually get praised for being "financially smart."

People always throw out "but... multigenerational households in {culture}" I guess don't realize "multigenerational households" are not the same as "living in your parents basement."

Beyond that, moving out of your parents house doesn't mean living by yourself, you can live with roommates or a spouse, a dorm, rent a room, etc., So you are not necessarily giving up something financially.

As an aside, I know someone who dated a guy who was living in his parents basement (in his late 20s) and it felt to her like she was dating his parents just as much as she was dating him, his parents were still treating him like he was 12 years old. Needless to say, the relationship didn't really work out.

Re: Japan’s lost generation is still jobless and living with their parents

#150

Post by hmmokidk »

maerF0x0 wrote: post #140
saagarjha wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's because the scenario you've mentioned does not describe these households. The problem here is that there are adults who are partially or wholly supported by their parents in a house where they are not living with (nor was it designed for them to live with) a spouse or children.

Again. We're failing to address the "so what?" What does this scenario represent that is _the actual problem_ of the matter?

People feeling left out, alienated and powerless. According to me... at least.
Post reply on HN