Number of new adults in Japan at 1.35 mil; fewest on record

You`d think that with this shoushika (falling birthrate) and koureika (proportionately high elderly population) thing that keeps going on in Japan and the looming pension crisis that will accompany it, that they`d be welcoming foreigners with welcome arms just to beef up the tax paying numbers instead of the current policy of ever increasing means to deter us from ever coming or returning...

Just a thought...

 

go cry somewhere else bakanao!

 

Not a problem for me - I love it here; it sure ain`t paradise but it beats many other places I`ve been.
Just playing devil`s advocate for the usual Japan bashing brigade here...;-)

 

bakanaotoko is right... unfortunately, VERY right. Even more unfortunate is that Japan will do nothing about their current policies until it is WAY too late, and then no foreigners will really ever want to come here (aside from SE Asia, which the Japanese don't want outside of hostesses and prostitutes). In fact, many Japanese/Foreigner mixed couples are getting out of dodge while the going is good, and going to countries from whence they came. 'Brain drain' won't even be a loan word here... it'll just be drain.

What do these kids have to look forward to here? A busted pension system which has already stated matter of factly that if there's anything left they may not qualify; no tax cuts for them and their kids, only for big businesses, but still saying they are the ones at fault for Japan's woes by not having more kids; they'll die if they are ever waiting to get into a hospital, or if they ARE received they still have to pay a huge amount of the costs despite their deductions every month by the system; etc.

Japan has NOTHING to look forward to, I'm sorry to say. Things are going to get SO much worse before they get better, if ever.

 

Personally, I'm looking forward to the yearly "these kids have no respect" stories because the new adults were heckling the oyajis and their 45 minute speeches on the importance of the wa.

Those always crack me up.

Taka

 

is still an awful lot of people. Japan is a tiny country with a huge population. I think all in all it's a good thing the population is falling, when you consider the completely over-the-top consumerism here. Shift all the heavy industry to China, India, Malaysia, Indonesia and the like and move into the service industries and encourage fewer kids, smaller classrooms etc etc and then the young adults might actually have something more than a knees up in a kimono to look forward to.

 

my city office yesterday and out of curiosity I went to take a look at these "new adults." Their appearance was so bizarre I thought I'd walked into a Halloween party by mistake.The ones who didn't have a keitai in their hand either grasped a can of beer or a cigarette -- I guess now that they've come of age they want to get started on chronic liver disease and lung cancer without further delay.

If they want to keep the Seijin no Hi holiday, I respectfully propose that Japan raise the age of adulthood from 20 to 30.

 

Good post.
Did you see the survey results announced over the weekend?
I believe it indicated 40% of this generation think their adult lives will be worse than their parents, and that 43% think their kids will have it even worse than them.
So, respectfully, bakanaotoko, it is not us "Japan bashers" who think things need a major overhaul here.
But, as smithinjapan says, it won't happen.
If for no other reason than there are so many old folks here who vote -- they vastly out-number the younger folks -- that no party can get elected that would promote any major change.
No wonder these young folks aren't excited about having kids.
Tax credits aren't the answer.
Re-directing this country, however, just might be.

 

...to be ALL about the drink! Alcohol poisoning must be a nightmare for hospitals every January!

 

Well then, could I interest you in a pre-owned adult?

 

Apologies for the Japanbashing jibe... I do realise that many posters here are informed enough to make valued judgements and criticisms; I guess it`s that small minority that stand out for their sometimes near hysterical outbursts. Despite my (hopefully) valid argument in my original post, I was also satirically demonstrating the art of the Japanbasher in taking something as inoffensive as some young people enjoying their day, and turning into a rant against Japan.
Personally, I think the seiji bunch look fantastic in their sartorial choices for the day - the more colourful the better; I`m probably more offended by those "new men" amongst them who use the opportunity of their coming of age to show the world the plain black suit that they`ll be wearing for the rest of their working days...talk about dull...

 

An interesting thing I read on another forum was the possibility that along with Japan's population dropping it may become less Japanese. And this is not with the wholesale import of new immigrants - at least the way that people normally think. International marriages are becoming ever increasingly popular in Japan with the largest number being Japanese men to much poorer Asian women (Chinese, Thai, etc.). The birth rate of these marriages is around 2 to 2.5, much higher than the birth rate of Japanese to Japanese marriages. Someone crunched the numbers and came out with the result that by 2050, 10-15% of Japanese citizens will have a non-Japanese parent.