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jfrost wrote:That said, I don't know why people worry so much about declining populations. Do populations always have to grow?

Most governments of developed economies prefer a population to at least remain stable. A growing population means an economy can grow much more easily in the long term. One of the biggest problems with a decreasing population is that the value of homes decrease because there are fewer people left to buy existing homes. Since homes are by far the largest asset most people have and most countries have vast sums of wealth in real estate, a continuous decrease in those prices equals continuous deflation, one of the worst things that can happen to an economy. Home prices can rise with a declining population as long as per capita GDP grows quickly but that hasn't happened for nearly 20 year in Japan and they're in no hurry to allow the number of immigrants necessary to maintain their population.

It wasn't really the content of the article that bothered me. It was just very poorly written. Writers who can actually write are my favourite.

And yes, birthrate is declining in many western countries. Why should Japan be any different?

Still not sure why this is a face palm. Article was easy to understand and interesting read. The article did not try to defend the study. In fact, there were several hints of satire/sarcasm in there.

The article touched upon flawed statistics (which is apparent if 57/2000 people responded). No real conclusion can be made. Basic rule of stats - correlation does not equal causation.

What the heck is everyone so bent out of shape about? Kotaku posts like 15 articles a day. Do you all expect 100% entertainment and validity? Not even respectable newspapers have 100% outstanding articles.


Kotaku is a nerd blog, not the authority on literature and journalism.

jfrost wrote:I know the social security schemes in most of the world are not prepared to deal with declining populations, but that's a reason to find a sustainable model for them, not for taking for granted that smaller populations are a bad per se.

You pretty much nailed it right there. Our entire economy is essentially one big ponzi scheme, unsustainable without growth. You're entirely correct too, that we should be redesigning our economies, rather than trying to perpetuate the fraud. Problem is that for at least the last 30 years, it's been taken as an article of faith that "there is no alternative" to our economic system. It's more profitable in the short term for those in power to keep things as they are.

There is a better article on this in japantoday.com. I avoid Kotaku like the plague. Brian Ashcraft gives a lot of exaggerated misinformation knowing that the majority of the readers don't know any better.

Perhaps the high-pressure in Japanese society is what is making them get detached. Perform well in school, perform well at work, perform well in public. Raising a child is hard, and an escape where they don't have to live up to the expectations of a society that helps nothing, but demands a lot is what they want.

And I don't blame them. There are many unrealistic standards and expectations your average urban Japanese male has to live up to.

Specineff wrote:Perhaps the high-pressure in Japanese society is what is making them get detached. Perform well in school, perform well at work, perform well in public. Raising a child is hard, and an escape where they don't have to live up to the expectations of a society that helps nothing, but demands a lot is what they want.

And I don't blame them. There are many unrealistic standards and expectations your average urban Japanese male has to live up to.

Is growing up in Japan... really so sad?

Nah~ Still was about games somewhat... Dating simulation games... I still don't get why these guys in Japan just don't get internet porn... Porn better than drawn porn. More likely you'll run into girl with any size boobs than meeting your bestestestest girl from dating sim7 who didn't shoot you down.

D.D.D. wrote:I still don't get why these guys in Japan just don't get internet porn... Porn better than drawn porn.

Trust me, Japan has PLENTY of real porn.

AppleQueso wrote:

D.D.D. wrote:I still don't get why these guys in Japan just don't get internet porn... Porn better than drawn porn.

Trust me, Japan has PLENTY of real porn.

uncensored porn though?