Actually, this is probably nothing more than FUD: http://www.yutaaoki.com/blog/top5-mistakes-journalists-make-...
Japan’s sexual apathy is endangering the global economy (2013)
21–30 of 41 posts
Re: Japan’s sexual apathy is endangering the global economy (2013)
#22> More than half of Japanese are single. 49 percent of unmarried women and 61 of unmarried men, ages 18 to 34, are not in any kind of romantic relationship. So 12-24% of women are sharing men then? Or would this be an artifact of the age bounding and women pairing with older, not counted men?
Or maybe there's some disagreement between the sexes on what constitutes "a relationship".
Wouldn't that be shocking.
Re: Japan’s sexual apathy is endangering the global economy (2013)
#23Earlier quoted context omitted.
A little of both, I'd guess. They're not immune to the "hooking up" phenomenon over there, are they?
Does hooking up qualify as a 'romantic relationship'? Depends on who you ask apparently.
"Romantic" is a euphemism in these things. When even apparently romantic relationships no longer result in marriage, how do you even test them anymore? About the only objective criteria is "did he pay for sex" which lets you rule out prostitution. Everything else is wishy-washy.
Re: Japan’s sexual apathy is endangering the global economy (2013)
#24What a silly analysis. Japanese are not having babies so the economy is doomed. Maybe less consumption and unmitigated infinite growth is not such a bad thing.
Re: Japan’s sexual apathy is endangering the global economy (2013)
#25Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's not just about productivity. As the article says, "People in Japan tend to live a long time; elderly Japanese are expensive to care for because they spend so many years in retirement and because they're accustomed to a high standard of living and medical care. For any economy to stay healthy, there need to be enough taxpayers to support all the retirees. But Japan's population is shrinking and aging simultaneous…
When you adjust for Japan's fraudulent age accounting, they're not living much longer than Germans. Maybe 1 to 1.5 years tops. It's just another bogus excuse for the extraordinary mismanagement by the Japanese government over the last 25 years.
Care to explain "Japan's fraudulent age accounting"?
Re: Japan’s sexual apathy is endangering the global economy (2013)
#26Actually, this is probably nothing more than FUD: http://www.yutaaoki.com/blog/top5-mistakes-journalists-make-...
Well, that blog does still support the assertion that Japanese people have way less sex on average. They're by far the lowest on the graphs...
Re: Japan’s sexual apathy is endangering the global economy (2013)
#27What a silly analysis. Japanese are not having babies so the economy is doomed. Maybe less consumption and unmitigated infinite growth is not such a bad thing.
> Japanese are not having babies so the economy is doomed.
Yup. That's exactly how it goes.
Our entire social structure is based on the notion that economies grow and will continue to grow, forever.
The largest component of economic growth is not gains in productivity, which is what most people think. It's simple population growth. Each additional person means an increase in consumption of goods and services, and as a consequence, an increase in production not only for the sake of that person's consumption but also through that individual's labor. That's growth.
Take away population growth and you'll have anemic growth at best and a spiraling depression at worst.
Re: Japan’s sexual apathy is endangering the global economy (2013)
#28Earlier quoted context omitted.
When you adjust for Japan's fraudulent age accounting, they're not living much longer than Germans. Maybe 1 to 1.5 years tops. It's just another bogus excuse for the extraordinary mismanagement by the Japanese government over the last 25 years.
Care to explain "Japan's fraudulent age accounting"?
Japan is often claimed to have "lost" a lot of seniors who have actually died but were never recorded.
The explanation for this has ranged from welfare fraud (relatives continuing to collect on the dead) to simple incompetence.
But either way AFAIK there is strong evidence that quite a large number of dead people slip through the cracks and are never marked as dead, at least for statistical purposes, which inflates life expectancies.
Re: Japan’s sexual apathy is endangering the global economy (2013)
#29What a silly analysis. Japanese are not having babies so the economy is doomed. Maybe less consumption and unmitigated infinite growth is not such a bad thing.
I'm reading Stewart Brand's book "Whole Earth Discipline" right now [1]. Prior to reading the book, I would have had a similar assumption.
Turns out that population collapse is potentially very dangerous to the environment. Why? Because a rapid collapse in population would cause economic distress and wars over resources. During economic crisis, environmental conservation tends to (unfortunately) go out the window. And war is devastating for the environment.
Anyway, Brand says the world population requires something like 2.1 kids per person to avoid a collapse in population, but is falling below that in many countries. The green movement of the 1960's was very effective at lowering population growth, averting a potential 'population bomb' that was so feared at the time.
Re: Japan’s sexual apathy is endangering the global economy (2013)
#30Let's try looking at birthrates another way: Japan might be one of the few rational countries in the world.
If the economy is not growing in a way that supports having 3-5 kids per family, with a high quality of life (very important detail)...
...then perhaps the rational response is for birthrates to drop so the population can reach a natural size where quality of life is acceptable for the kids that are born.
Countries that continue to grow their population over everything else wind up being pretty miserable places to live over time.