Japan -- Doomed or Not Doomed?

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MachineGhost
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Japan -- Doomed or Not Doomed?

Post by MachineGhost » Wed Jun 08, 2016 8:50 pm

Hmmm...

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Women are a huge portion of the part-time increase.

At some point both spouses will be working and there will finally be enough money to finally have sex and breed?
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Re: Japan -- Doomed or Not Doomed?

Post by Pointedstick » Thu Jun 09, 2016 8:13 am

MachineGhost wrote:At some point both spouses will be working and there will finally be enough money to finally have sex and breed?
It's not about money. Most people in all of human history have had half a dozen babies with next to nothing. It's about far deeper and more subtle things: social culture regarding the value of children and motherhood; availability of spaces hospitable to children and mothers; sexual attraction and compatibility between men and women (I hear this is a big one in Japan as Japanese men have basically given up on masculinity); exposure to pro-fertility messages in culture and especially religion; availability of birth control and abortion.
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Re: Japan -- Doomed or Not Doomed?

Post by MachineGhost » Thu Jun 09, 2016 2:27 pm

Pointedstick wrote:
MachineGhost wrote:At some point both spouses will be working and there will finally be enough money to finally have sex and breed?
It's not about money. Most people in all of human history have had half a dozen babies with next to nothing. It's about far deeper and more subtle things: social culture regarding the value of children and motherhood; availability of spaces hospitable to children and mothers; sexual attraction and compatibility between men and women (I hear this is a big one in Japan as Japanese men have basically given up on masculinity); exposure to pro-fertility messages in culture and especially religion; availability of birth control and abortion.
Really? That seems a little at odds with the patriarchery of Japan's culture. You got a link?

Japan is just too insular in my view in all aspects. Even the women if they don't like their pussy men aren't going to be looking for it outside their culture. They're just too xenophobic.
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Re: Japan -- Doomed or Not Doomed?

Post by Pointedstick » Thu Jun 09, 2016 2:36 pm

Sure do. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herbivore_men
Herbivore men[1] or grass-eater men[2] (草食(系)男子 Sōshoku(-kei) danshi?) is a term used in Japan to describe men who have no interest in getting married or finding a girlfriend.[3] The term was coined by author Maki Fukasawa in an article published on 13 October 2006.[4][5][6][7]

Surveys of single Japanese men conducted in 2010 found that 61% of men in their 20s and 70% of men in their 30s considered themselves to be herbivores.[8] Japan's government views the phenomenon as one possible cause of the nation's declining birth rate.[9]

According to Fukasawa, herbivore men are "not without romantic relationships, but have a non-assertive, indifferent attitude toward desires of flesh". Philosopher Masahiro Morioka defines herbivore men as men who are "kind and gentle men who, without being bound by manliness, do not pursue romantic relationships voraciously and have no aptitude for being hurt or hurting others."[10]
They are men who nobody ever taught how to be men.
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Re: Japan -- Doomed or Not Doomed?

Post by MachineGhost » Thu Jun 09, 2016 3:19 pm

Pointedstick wrote:According to Fukasawa, herbivore men are "not without romantic relationships, but have a non-assertive, indifferent attitude toward desires of flesh". Philosopher Masahiro Morioka defines herbivore men as men who are "kind and gentle men who, without being bound by manliness, do not pursue romantic relationships voraciously and have no aptitude for being hurt or hurting others."[10]
Boy, that's confusing because that's not really my understanding of what Japanese culture is supposed to be like, but it occurs to me I'm probably projecting the "Alpha Patriarchy" perspective onto it.

So "real" men are violent and only care about the banal superficialities just to be able to do the nasty? Come on! Maybe men have just evolved in Japan and we're seeing the consequences arising out of that. They are ahead of us in a lot of ways. What we view as "Alpha" male culture here in the West is really just curtailed misogyny originally shaped by the "Mad Men" media and promoted by pickup artist hucksters since the early 90's. They make all kinds of "Beta" male claims that may or may not be true that is salacious to any non-gay male's inner "Alpha", so they should be having a field day in Japan, and yet are they?
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Re: Japan -- Doomed or Not Doomed?

Post by Pointedstick » Thu Jun 09, 2016 3:31 pm

MachineGhost wrote: So "real" men are violent and only care about the banal superficialities just to be able to do the nasty? Come on! Maybe men have just evolved in Japan and we're seeing the consequences arising out of that. They are ahead of us in a lot of ways. What we view as "Alpha" male culture here in the West is really just curtailed misogyny originally shaped by the "Mad Men" media and promoted by pickup artist hucksters since the early 90's. They make all kinds of "Beta" male claims that may or may not be true that is salacious to any non-gay male's inner "Alpha", so they should be having a field day in Japan, and yet are they?
Why do you have to think in such extremes? Real masculinity is about energy. Projection of power. Shaping the world. A quiet confidence in your ability to make things happen. The implication of the strength and willingness to defend the vulnerable. It doesn't have to be aggressive or misogynistic, and probably isn't (those are signs of psychological immaturity and weakness). These guys are perceived as un-masculine because they don't do anything. Their placid attitude is indicative of a total lack of energy. They have no edge. They couldn't defend anyone. They're not attractive to women. When foreigners go to Japan--even those who would be considered un-manly nerds here--Japanese girls go nuts over them. I have some colleagues in Japan right now who are experiencing (and benefiting from!) this.
Last edited by Pointedstick on Thu Jun 09, 2016 3:49 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: Japan -- Doomed or Not Doomed?

Post by Reub » Thu Jun 09, 2016 3:40 pm

"When foreigners go to Japan--even those who would be considered un-manly nerds here--Japanese girls go nuts over them. I have some colleagues in Japan right know who are experiencing (and benefiting from!) this."

Tell us more. ;)
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Re: Japan -- Doomed or Not Doomed?

Post by jafs » Thu Jun 09, 2016 4:15 pm

Pointedstick wrote:Sure do. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herbivore_men
Herbivore men[1] or grass-eater men[2] (草食(系)男子 Sōshoku(-kei) danshi?) is a term used in Japan to describe men who have no interest in getting married or finding a girlfriend.[3] The term was coined by author Maki Fukasawa in an article published on 13 October 2006.[4][5][6][7]

Surveys of single Japanese men conducted in 2010 found that 61% of men in their 20s and 70% of men in their 30s considered themselves to be herbivores.[8] Japan's government views the phenomenon as one possible cause of the nation's declining birth rate.[9]

According to Fukasawa, herbivore men are "not without romantic relationships, but have a non-assertive, indifferent attitude toward desires of flesh". Philosopher Masahiro Morioka defines herbivore men as men who are "kind and gentle men who, without being bound by manliness, do not pursue romantic relationships voraciously and have no aptitude for being hurt or hurting others."[10]
They are men who nobody ever taught how to be men.
This quote leads one to the line of thought that MG followed.

One can pursue romantic relationships without doing that "voraciously", and an "aptitude for hurting others or being hurt" sounds very much like his post.

A non-assertive indifference towards desires of the flesh sounds more monastic to me.

In between the extremes of very passive and very active, there are a lot of gradations - these guys sound like they're in the middle somewhere. And the world can certainly use more kindness and gentleness, to my mind. We have plenty of cruelty and violence already.

As far as the attraction of foreigners, don't you think we all tend to find exotic others attractive in some ways?
Last edited by jafs on Thu Jun 09, 2016 4:17 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Japan -- Doomed or Not Doomed?

Post by MachineGhost » Thu Jun 09, 2016 4:16 pm

Pointedstick wrote:Why do you have to think in such extremes? Real masculinity is about energy. Projection of power. Shaping the world. A quiet confidence in your ability to make things happen. The implication of the strength and willingness to defend the vulnerable. It doesn't have to be aggressive or misogynistic, and probably isn't (those are signs of psychological immaturity and weakness). These guys are perceived as un-masculine because they don't do anything. Their placid attitude is indicative of a total lack of energy. They have no edge. They couldn't defend anyone. They're not attractive to women. When foreigners go to Japan--even those who would be considered un-manly nerds here--Japanese girls go nuts over them. I have some colleagues in Japan right now who are experiencing (and benefiting from!) this.
Why is it any more extreme than these pussy herbivores doing nothing which is pretty extreme itself? So I'm a little skeptical.

And Japanese women that do like foreigners are a very, very, very small proportion of Japanese culture are considered social outcasts, so that's not really informative as we're concerned with the society as a whole, not the gold-digging exceptions.

Anyway to bring this back on track, the implication here is that without any earnings power in terms of the ability to grow an income and support a growing family, women lose interest in men and men are then conditioned to turn into submissive herbivores?
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Re: Japan -- Doomed or Not Doomed?

Post by I Shrugged » Thu Jun 09, 2016 6:25 pm

Lower birthrates are correlated with higher standards of living.
Higher birthrates are correlated with lower " " ".
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Re: Japan -- Doomed or Not Doomed?

Post by MachineGhost » Thu Jun 09, 2016 7:16 pm

I Shrugged wrote:Lower birthrates are correlated with higher standards of living.
Higher birthrates are correlated with lower " " ".
Okay, well, someone prove that Japan has a higher living standard than they did at the bubble top in 1989 and currently of every other nation on earth. I really doubt feminism took hold in Japan, but 70% are pussy herbivores? Wow.
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Re: Japan -- Doomed or Not Doomed?

Post by dualstow » Fri Jun 10, 2016 5:27 am

Reub wrote:(PointedStick)"When foreigners go to Japan--even those who would be considered un-manly nerds here--Japanese girls go nuts over them. I have some colleagues in Japan right know who are experiencing (and benefiting from!) this."

Tell us more. ;)
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Re: Japan -- Doomed or Not Doomed?

Post by clacy » Fri Jun 10, 2016 9:08 am

I Shrugged wrote:Lower birthrates are correlated with higher standards of living.
Higher birthrates are correlated with lower " " ".

Anecdotally I can confirm that when I had 3 boys my standard of living took a hit!!
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Re: Japan -- Doomed or Not Doomed?

Post by MachineGhost » Tue Jun 21, 2016 12:42 am

LOL!
Gaffe-prone Finance Minister Taro Aso was again caught taking a swipe at the elderly, saying last week that he wondered how much longer a 90-year-old person intends to live.

The outspoken Aso, who is also deputy prime minister, made the comment at a Liberal Democratic Party rally in Otaru, Hokkaido, on Friday, where he said: “I recently saw someone as old as 90 on television, saying how the person was worried about the future. I wondered, ‘How much longer do you intend to keep living?’ “

His comments, part of a speech urging wealthy elderly citizens to spend more to spur the economy, drew immediate fire from Democratic Party President Katsuya Okada.

“This is an insult to the nation’s elderly,” Okada told reporters in Yufu, Oita Prefecture, on Saturday. “It’s extremely disheartening that someone who cannot understand the public’s concerns about nursing care is serving as finance minister.”

During the Otaru rally, Aso pointed to the more than ¥1.7 quadrillion of personal assets held nationwide, saying the money needs to be spent.

“The biggest problem at the present is how everyone is staying put,” he said. “If you don’t spend the money you have, that money will mean nothing. What’s the point of accumulating more wealth? Just looking at the money you have?”

Aso is no stranger to offending key electoral groups, young and old, and is known for having a thick skin. In 2013, at a government meeting on social security reform, he said the elderly “should hurry up and die” as they are costing taxpayers huge sums for medical care.

Source: http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2016/0 ... V2dbe_krJD_
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Re: Japan -- Doomed or Not Doomed?

Post by craigr » Tue Jun 21, 2016 5:21 pm

Japan has existed as unique people and culture for over a millennia. They are not going to vanish just because some economists think they aren't having enough kids to grow GDP to their liking.

I recommend everyone visit Japan and see their cities, the people, and the unflappable spirit of the country. Then when you read the Japan is doomed from demographics articles, you'll laugh. The U.S. has better demographics, but they are the completely wrong kind of people you want to run a high-tech society into the future. Japan understands this which is why they are perfectly happy remaining closed to the siren song of cheap imported labor and will be around long after the U.S. has imploded.
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Re: Japan -- Doomed or Not Doomed?

Post by MachineGhost » Tue Jun 21, 2016 5:44 pm

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Re: Japan -- Doomed or Not Doomed?

Post by MachineGhost » Fri Jul 01, 2016 4:12 am

Sheard explained that Japan is likely to adopt "helicopter money" because "the cornerstone of Abenomics is to mobilize monetary policy and fiscal policy to end this deflation once and for all."

"If it's done through the fiscal authorities, you know tax cuts and bigger budget deficits, with simultaneous quantitative easing, that's actually pretty easy to do within [Japan's] existing framework," he explained.

In Japan's context, fiscal authorities could introduce a form of tax cuts and bigger budget deficits, while the central bank could simultaneously introduce another round of quantitative easing, Sheard explained.

To be sure, the "helicopter money" policy might raise questions about the independence of central banks.

To this, Sheard responded that central banks independence means they can make their own decisions in their committees, but it doesn't give them a free hand to ignore what the government is doing.

"The government and the central bank have to work closely together," he said.

http://www.cnbc.com/2016/06/30/bank-of- ... olicy.html
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Re: Japan -- Doomed or Not Doomed?

Post by clacy » Fri Jul 01, 2016 3:10 pm

I'm rooting for Japan to get even more aggressive with QE and fiscal stimulus. I look at them as the canary in the coal mine for the US. There are differences, but from what I can tell, if they can QE their way out, we can too.
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Re: Japan -- Doomed or Not Doomed?

Post by dualstow » Fri Jul 01, 2016 3:27 pm

clacy wrote:I'm rooting for Japan to get even more aggressive with QE and fiscal stimulus. I look at them as the canary in the coal mine for the US....
guinea pig?
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Re: Japan -- Doomed or Not Doomed?

Post by MachineGhost » Wed Jul 13, 2016 7:39 am

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Re: Japan -- Doomed or Not Doomed?

Post by MachineGhost » Thu Jul 14, 2016 4:45 am

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Re: Japan -- Doomed or Not Doomed?

Post by Pointedstick » Thu Jul 14, 2016 10:18 am

Maybe companies should take the initiative to train their workers in the skills they want instead of whining about not being able to find the perfect candidate.

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Re: Japan -- Doomed or Not Doomed?

Post by MachineGhost » Thu Aug 11, 2016 9:23 am

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Re: Japan -- Doomed or Not Doomed?

Post by MachineGhost » Thu Oct 20, 2016 2:15 pm

International equity investors are giving up on Japan.

After dumping their Tokyo stock holdings for four of the past five months, foreigners are on track for their biggest annual exodus since 1987. Back then, they were fleeing bubbly valuations and the Black Monday crash. This time, they’re fed up with Shinzo Abe’s ineffectual economic policies and the surging yen.

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“In the late 1980s, international investors were disappointed and realized it wasn’t sustainable,” said Toru Ibayashi, the Tokyo-based head of Japanese equity investments at UBS Group AG’s wealth management unit, which oversees $2 trillion worldwide. “The latest selling tells us how seriously and deeply disappointed they are in Abenomics.”

The $59 billion outflow, bigger than in any of the 33 markets tracked by Bloomberg, helps explain why unprecedented exchange-traded fund purchases by the Bank of Japan have failed to prevent a 12 percent slide in Tokyo’s Topix index this year. The gauge was little changed in afternoon trading on Wednesday. With overseas funds pulling out faster than the BOJ can buy, some of the world’s biggest investors say there’s little hope for a market revival anytime soon.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/ ... since-1987
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