Aren't these just growing pains?

[tsukikage]

You know, I have some vague understanding of the problems that a decreasing birthrate/aging population can cause, but really... Whenever I hear people lamenting or even warning about the lowered birth rate in Japan, I think to myself: Isn't this a good thing? Japan's crowded enough as it is, as is much of the world, so in my mind issues like difficulties in supporting the aged are really just unfortunate growing pains on the way to something better.
Is there something I'm missing?

P.S. From the J-List newsletter: "Hopefully, they'll come up with a way to keep their race from dying out between now and the year 3000, when the number of Japanese in the world is projected to be...27." Umm... Please tell me he's kidding. I'd bet you 1,000,000,000,000 yen that, barring some sort of disaster of the sci-fi sort, that this birth rate trend won't continue until the population of Japan hits even 1,000,000.

Comments

[alterna-redux.livejournal.com]

One immediate effect that I can think of right off the top of my mind, something that is often shown on the news, is that there are too many schools and not enough students. Teachers and those aspiring to be teachers- especially to younger children are losing jobs as empty schools are being closed.

Another would be that retirement ages are being raised higher and higher, insurance rates are more expensive, and health care is also on the rise. People who are 50 or so right now probably still have to work another 20+ years. Pension is also becoming a huge problem (it was a main issue in the last election)

There are some good things and bad things about the decrease in birth rates, but a sharp decline does cause unstability economically that affects everyone. Italy and a few European countries also have low/almost negative birthrates, but the social and economic circumstances are set up differently than here.
Having not enough people to work here would drive Japan to look to forgein sources to suppliment their labour force, but that could cause culture clashes/conflicts/social problems considering Japan's long history of "EVERYTHING IN JAPAN IS JAPANESE" mindset. I think a lot of people would feel threatened by having a huge surge of a non-Japanese workforce- which is perfectly understandable.
It's complicated.


:( Oh my god this is all I study in school... seriously. :'D This and Global warming (and a bit of "barrier free" issues) are the main topics of the test I have in November. :( :( :( *yawn*

[tsukikage85.livejournal.com]

Barrier free?

[alterna-redux.livejournal.com]

Barrier free is to make public/private areas accessible for those in wheelchairs, vision problems, the elderly, etc. This means more elevators/esclators, wider pathways, guidance systems, etc.

They just put an elevator thingy at one of the train stations I use last year. Half of the place was "stairs only".

Japan, espcially Tokyo, is not an easy to live place for anyone with a physical problem. With more old people around I think the push to get everything accessible was finally initiated.

[carve037.livejournal.com]

Frankly, Nastassja, I agree with you. The only reason it's more of a problem for Japan is their culture would have problems with importing workers from the parts of the world that have uncontrollable growth right now, which would be the traditional Western solution. But the world has enough people that it does strike me as odd to be worried about population decline.

[firearmofmutiny.livejournal.com]

I think my work is a big indication as to why the population is declining: they spend every waking moment of their lives working! :P