Another jap article, can't go a week on HK without mentioning japan this, japan that.
Japan’s lost generation is still jobless and living with their parents
271–280 of 354 posts
Re: Japan’s lost generation is still jobless and living with their parents
#272Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yes. And I love Singapore. I'd like to think that cities / countries of the future have lower inequality and are more self sustainable (not too much Singapore can do here, but it might become increasingly important). I don't want to speak too much subjectively. Because I've lived in Singapore and I've only visited Japan. So maybe I just haven't seen Japan's dirty side - which was kind of what I was asking in my origi…
Doesn't Singapore run on $1/hr workers from other countries? It has much higher inequality than Japan.
Global inequality doesn't go away just because we close our eyes to it.
Yes, Singapore has special visas for people to come as construction workers or maids. Some Google suggests they make about 800 SGD/month in basic pay in construction
Alas, if Singapore wouldn't hire them, not only would the city lose out on infrastructure projects, but the construction workers would lose out on high paying jobs. (High paying relative to the alternatives for them.)
Yes, not hiring them would technically decrease measured inflation in Singapore, but that would be functionally equivalent to deporting your poor people in an effort to decrease measured inequality inside your borders.
Re: Japan’s lost generation is still jobless and living with their parents
#273Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
> Corporate interests don't care for children because they get in the way of profits. Baloney. People having more children is the dream scenario for all business--more children = more consumers = more economic growth. This has nothing to do with some evil corporate boogeyman. Just look at the data. There's a direct correlation between rising standards of living and having less children. This is because, if you give h…
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Re: Japan’s lost generation is still jobless and living with their parents
#274Earlier quoted context omitted.
What does it mean to be "10 years behind the western world" ? Are they behind in technology, values, policy? Can you give some examples? I'm not disagreeing with you, just curious for more info. (I don't know much about Japan myself.)
I've been working in the computer graphics field for 25-years, the last 10 of which (and currently) have been in Japan. Before I got here 10-years ago, I had visions of Japanese studios having cutting-edge tools, all built in-house, created to automate tasks, making production efficient. I was extremely disappointed. I understand that Japan has a reputation of being at the forefront of technology and, while the manuf…
I find it strange to say Sony isn't a leader in electronic hardware, at least using it as a blanket statement. Some divisions are clearly innovative. For example, they make the best camera sensors bar none and camera sensors are cutting edge and hard to design and manufacture. Nobody comes close to Sony from my understanding from some camera experts that I work with. They are also working on sensor like this https://www.theverge.com/2020/5/14/21258403/sony-image-senso..., which if it works could be huge for the AV industry. There could be a lack of innovation in japan as a whole, but could that be because you just aren't aware of it? Both Honda and Toyota manufacture fuel cell cars, something that always seemed 10 years out, then all of a sudden it popped up for sale. So it seems strange to say that Toyota isn't innovative, simply because they aren't a leader in one specific area that they were previously. It could be that they aren't experts in CG, but I highly doubt a country can be a world leader in every single field in technology.
Re: Japan’s lost generation is still jobless and living with their parents
#275Earlier quoted context omitted.
What exactly would I gained if I moved elsewhere to live alone or with roommate? Independence. A sense of self-reliance. Freedom to make your own decisions (good or bad) and learn from them. Freedom to live your life as you want, even if your parents disagree with it.
You can do all of that while living with your parents, depending on if they treat you as an adult or not.
To a degree. But there’s a difference between making sure you pay rent because otherwise you’ll be homeless and being worried your parents will be upset because you didn’t pay for groceries this week.
Re: Japan’s lost generation is still jobless and living with their parents
#276I don't think it's a coincidence that Japan has the highest debt-to-GDP ratio and also the largest number of jobless youth living with their parents. Debt fueled by inflationary government money-printing drives wealth inequality between asset owners and salary earners. Newly printed currency boosts asset prices and inflates away salaries. As Milton Friedman pointed out, it also increases the tax burden on citizens tw…
> Debt fueled by inflationary government money-printing drives wealth inequality between asset owners and salary earners
How does that even work? Inflation tends to decrease wealth inequality as basic salaries keep pace with inflation, and large hordes of wealth and assets slowly get whittled away. According to Piketty, the high inflation during the World Wars drastically increased income equality.
Re: Japan’s lost generation is still jobless and living with their parents
#277Earlier quoted context omitted.
I’ve lived in japan and believe me, what you see as a tourist does not translate into reality. Japan in general is about 10 years behind the western world and in some places even more. Sure, tourist facing areas and central tokyo are pretty nice, but that’s not the reality in most places.
Are you currently in the western world? I live in Los Angeles, which is a city that feels like it's trapped in the 1990s. Our highways were never finished and the city is fundamentally crippled as a result. We are building rail faster than any other city but it's still far too little and much too late, and what we do build is littered with compromises and further issues that hobble its utility, such as a failure to d…
The part about U.S. development is partially true. Idaho has been developing immensely, with Boise Area 10x'ing since 1930 and averaging 30% YoY population increase the past few decades.[0] If you go there, there's immense construction with frequent road closures and cranes everywhere. So while Idaho may still be dealing with the second-order effects of California's underdevelopment, I would struggle to find anywhere that's been building as much as Idaho is.
[0]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boise_metropolitan_area#Demogr...
Re: Japan’s lost generation is still jobless and living with their parents
#278I wonder how much the stories about Japanese unemployment are just driven the the need for a good story vs. looking at actual figures. The Japanese labor force participation rate for 15-64 year-olds rose from about 70% in 1990 to 79% in 2020, as estimated by the International Labour Organization. In that time frame, it overtook China and the US (both have falling labor force participation rates) and the only other co…
This is more a story about a particular subset of unemployed that follow a rather stereotypical pattern, not the norm. They fizzle out around college, then practically never do anything which requires initiative after that. It seems like just a manifestation of how mental illness can play out within that particular culture.
Re: Japan’s lost generation is still jobless and living with their parents
#279>Under Katsube’s direction, Junko also enrolled in a program that helps shut-ins learn social skills by engaging in activities such as gardening, music, sports, and volunteering. America desperately needs this. I fear the rise of social media has caused more and more people to stay inside all day without interacting with any real humans. I've found Meetup to work very well for getting out of the house. I did find it…
>I fear the rise of social media has caused more and more people to stay inside all day without interacting with any real humans.
Read _Industrial Society and Its Future_. It has the path paved out already. Japan is, as seems to be customary, ahead of the curve in some respects.
Re: Japan’s lost generation is still jobless and living with their parents
#280To which entity are they 'lost'? To the state? To corporations? "Those who successfully navigate the arduous corporate recruiting process will be rewarded with a secure place on the corporate ladder" Those who do not see that (+ the 60-80-hour weeks) as rewarding will not be motivated to pursue it. Economic slavery is over-rated. They may or may not be 'lost' to themselves, depending on what they're doing with all th…
This is delusional. It would be fine if all these shut-ins were living personally satisfied, fulfilling lives. But the vast, vast, vast majority are not. Most live with deep regret, shame, depression, and isolation, and romanticizing their situation as some sort of meditative peace is f'd up in my opinion.
It's not delusional, it's a simple statement of fact. It would also be nice if we would stop shaming these people and instead protect them and encourage them to socialize and study. Maybe they wouldn't be so angry on internet forums.