[LMB] Betan influence

[Azalais Aranxta]

On Wed, 6 Jun 2007, James Nicoll wrote:

> On Wed, 6 Jun 2007, Azalais Aranxta wrote:
>
> > On Wed, 6 Jun 2007 onyxhawke at onyxhawke.com wrote:
> >
> >> Japan had population issues for decades, America got lots of
> >> well educated immigrants out of it. Japan - Beta is a lot
> >> better comparison than anyplace in Africa
> >
> > I don't know where you are getting this.  Modern Japanese
> > typically have small families, and *currently* the situation is
> > so bad with respect to getting people to marry and breed (because
> > women don't want to resign upon marriage or childbirth) that the
> > Japanese government is having to consider that actually, child
> > care might not be a bad idea.
> >
>  	As I recall*, Japan's population recently declined slightly.
> That's due to the post-1980s drop in birth rates, though. After the Meiji
> Restoration, Japan had a fairly impressive rate of population growth,
> going from about 30 million people in 1868 to 100 million about a century
> later.

Oh, okay, we're not talking about anything terrible recent.

> * As I further recall, Japanese men aren't making much of a
> case that Japanese women should want to be wives, if other
> options exist.

This is also a generational issue.  Japanese women of my
acquaintance used to tell me in no uncertain terms that I didn't
want to get involved with anyone over 35 (this was a few years
ago, but I myself was close to 40 at the time, only the other
side of it.)  In general most young Japanese men don't much want
to get married and have families either.

The current setup of the Japanese economy and society works like
this:  if you work, are single and live at home, you have quite a
lot of disposable income (and most parents don't expect or
encourage the kids to move out much before marriage).  If you
work, live alone or with a roommate/partner, you have some
disposable income, but rents are fairly high.

If you get married and try to buy a place, you have almost zilch
disposable income.  If you then have a child, there is no
corporate or governmentally sponsored child care, because women
with children are expected to quit working even when they're not
actually required to--at least in the corporate world--I know
some Japanese female academics who manage, and of course there
are women with lower-end jobs who have kids, but.

Japan is also terrifically hard on single mothers.  There is
something to be said for a society that doesn't encourage teenage
girls to have children, but things could be better for divorced
women with children.  I think a lot of them have to depend on
family, which is fine if they're still living where their family
is and there are no compelling issues there.  Otherwise not so
much.

~malfoy :)
****************************************************************
Azalais Aranxta (~malfoy)
ataniell93 on LiveJournal and Vox
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/malfoymadness

"I know the true world, and you know I do. But we needn't let it
think we all bow down." --Christopher Morley