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Japan has a worrying number of virgins, government finds

independent.co.uk

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Re: Japan has a worrying number of virgins, government finds

#51

Post by krapp »

honkhonkpants wrote: post #46
reflexive wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The original "Gojira" (Godzilla) in 1954 has been regarded as an expression of the impotence and powerlessness felt by many Japanese after being forced to surrender to the Allies in WW2, and the subsequent American occupation. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/10788996/Godzilla-wh...

Interesting perspective. Defeat was the consequence of having started the war in the first place. Nobody in America was sitting around in 1941 thinking up ways to vaporize Japanese people. As they say on the Internet: play stupid games, win stupid prizes.

It wouldn't surprise me if some Japanese viewed the atomic bombings as an unwarranted act of unprovoked aggression - and they may not be entirely unjustified if they do.

From their point of view, it probably seemed as if the US had already won and just decided to spike the football.

Re: Japan has a worrying number of virgins, government finds

#52

Post by [deleted] »

Animats wrote: post #36

Japan has a fertility rate of 1.41. Replacement rate is around 2.1 to maintain the population. Here's the world table.[1] Most of the developed world is below replacement rate. Most of Africa is above 4. India is at 2.51; China is at 1.55. Singapore is at the bottom at 0.8. It's amazing to see that much variation between countries. Maybe Japan shouldn't have cracked down on love hotels. [1] http://www.indexmundi.com/…

[deleted]

Re: Japan has a worrying number of virgins, government finds

#54

Post by sandworm101 »

zhemao wrote: post #12
sandworm101 wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I suspect it isn't about the kids. Or even sex. I suspect it is about old people. The period of one's life during which one must take care of elderly parents and grandparents is growing. Many people of marrying age are in families with several elderly people to care for. They aren't free to move out and start their own households. If I am correct, the answer isn't more child care but more government-backed elder care…

> They aren't free to move out and start their own households Why is that a problem? You don't need to live separately from your parents or grandparents in order to get married. Multi-generational households were the norm until very recently. Also, given that the elderly are much healthier now than in the past, they may not need as much care.

What is new is that the elder people now need a greater level of care, for a more protracted period. That's new. In the past people who couldn't care for themselves rarely lived more than a decade. Now it is not unusual for such a person to live many decades. It isn't everyone, nor all old people, but it is a rare family that doesn't have a grandparent in need of 24/7 presence. The primary carer then needs relief. So you've got at least two or three people who are not able to alter their living situations without 'abandoning' the elderly relative.

Conversely in china, some young women are not getting married because they do not want to be roped into caring for their in-laws too. One of my Chinese students admitted that she was desperate not to return to china after graduation for fear of being locked into caring for her grandmother. Should she marry here, she would then be under pressure to have her grandmother move in. Her goal was to stay single and in school as long as possible. It's harsh, but she didn't want to be married so long as her grandmother was still alive. Marriage to a Chinese boy would only compound the problem as he would likely be in the same boat.

Re: Japan has a worrying number of virgins, government finds

#55

Post by mcphage »

hasenj wrote: post #43
unsignedint wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because women can be discouraged of having a children in fear of not being return to work afterward. Implementations of maternity leaves are not very high in Japan -- this is coming from the work that histrically, they were expected to leave the work force when women are married.

Who is going to take care of the baby? Also, returning to work probably means no intention of having another baby any time soon.

If only there was an industry of trained professionals whose only job was taking care of children...

Re: Japan has a worrying number of virgins, government finds

#56

Post by Implicated »

krapp wrote: post #51
honkhonkpants wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Interesting perspective. Defeat was the consequence of having started the war in the first place. Nobody in America was sitting around in 1941 thinking up ways to vaporize Japanese people. As they say on the Internet: play stupid games, win stupid prizes.

It wouldn't surprise me if some Japanese viewed the atomic bombings as an unwarranted act of unprovoked aggression - and they may not be entirely unjustified if they do. From their point of view, it probably seemed as if the US had already won and just decided to spike the football.

> From their point of view, it probably seemed as if the US had already won and just decided to spike the football.

That wouldn't be far from the truth? If I remember, and it was reported correctly, the US govt deemed the nuclear bomb to be the lesser of two evils; the other being a long drawn out deescalation due to Japanese pride.

Re: Japan has a worrying number of virgins, government finds

#57

Post by usrusr »

scythe wrote: post #26

What is concerning is this: >Most people surveyed said they want to get married at some point. This isn't delineated by gender, so I interpret it as meaning that Japanese men and women both want to get married -- but they aren't enough for each other. >A booming industry surrounds Japan's growing condition of loneliness, a phenomenon at once quite particular to the Japanese, yet also a glimpse into a future where man…

Housing prices are trivial to explain: urbanization is much faster than population decline. Housing in rural areas beyond the commute horizon (and outside of tourist zones) can be had for close to nothing just about everywhere on the planet, I'd be surprised if Japan was an exception.

This also explains why opening the doors to immigration is such an unattractive "solution" (quotes, because I refuse to consider taking a break from exponential population growth a problem) : immigration rarely comes without urbanization and even shrinking countries (or maybe especially them?) are still seeing growing cities, all the shrinkage is happening in the increasingly abandoned countryside. Thinking of this, it might not even be a new phenomenon: historically, non-urbanizing immigration was so rare that one would typically sideline the border-crossing aspect and just call them settlers, no matter where they came from.

Re: Japan has a worrying number of virgins, government finds

#58

Post by skocznymroczny »

wott wrote: post #53
peterkelly wrote: post #7

Those pixelated genitals are an unfortunate physical trait, and would certainly be a turn-off for me in any potential relationship

You obviously didn't grow up with a 1200 bit/s modem.

obligatory xkcd: https://xkcd.com/598/

Re: Japan has a worrying number of virgins, government finds

#59

Post by coldtea »

abstractbeliefs wrote: post #4

Before we get into a huge discussion about virginity, it's worth noting that the government isn't actually worried about it. They're worried about fertility rates. Virgins sell more papers though, so lets get that clickbait going.

>it's worth noting that the government isn't actually worried about it. They're worried about fertility rates.

Except for Jesus, the two concepts are usually related.

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