It’s not just Japan either, starting in the mid 90s pretty much every developed country saw the same thing, the number of children born to women who have children has remained about the same, the drops are all coming from the percentage of women who have no children.
DoomComp on
…… sigh.
There is VERY valid reasons why people, as a whole, decide to “Not have kids”.
If people want more people to have kids, They MUST CHANGE the environment and give Incentives that encourage more people having kids.
Complaining and yelling at people to just “shut up and have kids” will do nothing, except piss the young people off – hence making them even MORE likely to NOT have kids.
Not that the people in power are going to change anything to make having kids more attractive… They are too beholden to the Bribes from the Major Companies to actually want any big changes.
themajortachikoma on
A distinction without a difference
Resident_Course_3342 on
I heard it’s difficult to get an epidural during childbirth in Japan. That would *suck*.
Affectionate-Tip-164 on
People who wish to be aocio-economically mobile will not consider kids.
IL1KEP1ZZA on
I mean, as someone who wants to have kids, I can’t blame anyone who doesn’t. They aren’t really making it easy or desirable to have a kid. Socially, having a child is hard, it can lock you out from doing a lot of the things that you want to do. Financially, having, and taking care of a child is expensive and time-consuming. But even putting all of those things aside. The current economic, geo-political, and even environmental outlook for the world isn’t looking all that great. People are afraid for what the world is going to be like, and I’ve met lots of people who feel like it would be unfair to bring a child into it.
U_feel_Me on
Many years ago, I heard a woman explain that the bargain women enter into is that they exchange sex and children for food and shelter (and protection from other men).
And when women can get food and shelter (and don’t especially fear being attacked) *without a man*, then they are in no rush to enter into the “baby-bargain”.
So, the lack of babies is an indicator of society *improving*! It’s more egalitarian and safer.
TCNZ on
Just invent the gestation machine.
Women are fed up with ‘mother’, ‘doormat’ and ‘homemaker’ as career options.
If the Japanese Government wants kids, let the grandads in the Japanese Government raise them.
Massive-Lime7193 on
“You’re not flying, youre falling with style”
NefariousnessMost660 on
Whoever wrote this post has negative iq.
OnSnowWhiteWings on
Governments all over the world will blame everyone, and do everything EXCEPT foster the conditions that enable people the opportunity to court a mate and raise offspring.
StevieNickedMyself on
Women aren’t incubators.
Deathnote_Blockchain on
Every. fucking. election.
EVERY ONE OF THEM: “The consumption tax needs to be abolished!” With an occasional smattering of “we’ll give every family a 20,000 yen subsidy!”
The new hotness is some variation of “foreigners are the cause of all of your problems”
I swear to god the first one of these dumb shits who comes up there and says “We’ll raise a tax on corporations and take some of the tax windfall tourism and use this money to pay for early child care” will be the next long-term prime minister
PumpinSmashkins on
More and more women may just decide they simply don’t want to be parents. Nobody asks men the same questions.
Murky_Toe_4717 on
As a SEA girlie, I can’t speak for Japan specifically but I can say the idea of being a mom just isn’t appealing in any way to me. Between what we know about the brain damage, possible risk to life in pregnancy, and the possibility of life long debilitation from childbirth alongside having to raise a child and another human being is just not appealing in the slightest. By all means to those who do wish to, but it is certainly not for everyone.
Cold_Hour on
Yeah and my home doesn’t have an increase in murder rates, just an increase of people being killed.
ClimberDave on
“Japan doesn’t have a decline in mothers, it has a rise in unlucky men.”
MMRS2000 on
I don’t have a drinking problem. There’s been a decline in the amount of times I don’t drink alcohol.
iamnotkrisp on
I gave birth here in Japan as a foreigner , and everything from pre-natal to now that my son is 6 months old had been ONLY AMAZING.
NOT ONLY financial support is available, but there are communities for new parents/families and mothers like me. The social workers are also willing to visit the house and baby if needed.
I’m ready to have more than one child. I am seeing Japanese women in our community play room and events with multiple babies/kids as well.
Everytime I read some news like this, I really wonder why. Japan has a great social backbone for mothers. Not to mention that the leave credits working moms can take here can be extended up to 2 years. I am planning to return to work when my son turns 1.
On a side note, my husband is supportive and does house work too and takes care of our Baby on his days off. I think this might be one problem for others because by Japanese culture I think women here are expected to do all housework and make a warm dinner for husbands who are tired all day from work..
I mean, I don’t mind because I love my husband and I’m home all day now anyway, but our son is yet a Baby and honestly after a whole day with Baby I can’t do anything else anymore. That cultural pressure might be one of the reasons Japanese women are hesistant to have kids, but Japan is truly a great country when it comes to child rearing support.
Brilliant-Comment249 on
I find it annoying that they say here that expanding childcare will not increase the number of kids people have because they will only invest in their existing kids more. I feel like they care more about increasing numbers, rather than insuring that existing children have a decent quality of life.
el_salinho on
Wait, it’s not the 500 000 yen birth costs, the refusal to administer epidurals, the 40 years stagnant wages, the lack of daycares, the idiotic work culture, the putrid misogyny at the workforce, the lack of rights for children, the rampant unchecked bullying at schools, the high rent cost, the low PTO numbers, the normalization of cheating.
Of course, it’s the mothers, how did i not think of that
bellow_whale on
Why would you want to have a kid with a Japanese husband? They do the least amount of housework and childcare among men in developed nations. What’s the incentive as a woman who also most likely needs to hold down a full-time job?
Spiritual-Anybody-88 on
No one is starving, they just aren’t able to consume enough calories! 🤦
GeneralGenerico on
I am personally all for the lower birthrates since eventually there will be change for the better. Not now but in the long term when everyone starts getting fed up with current society.
Ripley_and_Jones on
Parents can’t do full time work each and raise kids because raising kids is roughly 1-1.0 FTE. You can’t have on parent on no income, and *even if you did*, that parent then has no safety net if the other one dies or leaves.
26 Comments
Fact, that.
It’s not just Japan either, starting in the mid 90s pretty much every developed country saw the same thing, the number of children born to women who have children has remained about the same, the drops are all coming from the percentage of women who have no children.
…… sigh.
There is VERY valid reasons why people, as a whole, decide to “Not have kids”.
If people want more people to have kids, They MUST CHANGE the environment and give Incentives that encourage more people having kids.
Complaining and yelling at people to just “shut up and have kids” will do nothing, except piss the young people off – hence making them even MORE likely to NOT have kids.
Not that the people in power are going to change anything to make having kids more attractive… They are too beholden to the Bribes from the Major Companies to actually want any big changes.
A distinction without a difference
I heard it’s difficult to get an epidural during childbirth in Japan. That would *suck*.
People who wish to be aocio-economically mobile will not consider kids.
I mean, as someone who wants to have kids, I can’t blame anyone who doesn’t. They aren’t really making it easy or desirable to have a kid. Socially, having a child is hard, it can lock you out from doing a lot of the things that you want to do. Financially, having, and taking care of a child is expensive and time-consuming. But even putting all of those things aside. The current economic, geo-political, and even environmental outlook for the world isn’t looking all that great. People are afraid for what the world is going to be like, and I’ve met lots of people who feel like it would be unfair to bring a child into it.
Many years ago, I heard a woman explain that the bargain women enter into is that they exchange sex and children for food and shelter (and protection from other men).
And when women can get food and shelter (and don’t especially fear being attacked) *without a man*, then they are in no rush to enter into the “baby-bargain”.
So, the lack of babies is an indicator of society *improving*! It’s more egalitarian and safer.
Just invent the gestation machine.
Women are fed up with ‘mother’, ‘doormat’ and ‘homemaker’ as career options.
If the Japanese Government wants kids, let the grandads in the Japanese Government raise them.
“You’re not flying, youre falling with style”
Whoever wrote this post has negative iq.
Governments all over the world will blame everyone, and do everything EXCEPT foster the conditions that enable people the opportunity to court a mate and raise offspring.
Women aren’t incubators.
Every. fucking. election.
EVERY ONE OF THEM: “The consumption tax needs to be abolished!” With an occasional smattering of “we’ll give every family a 20,000 yen subsidy!”
The new hotness is some variation of “foreigners are the cause of all of your problems”
I swear to god the first one of these dumb shits who comes up there and says “We’ll raise a tax on corporations and take some of the tax windfall tourism and use this money to pay for early child care” will be the next long-term prime minister
More and more women may just decide they simply don’t want to be parents. Nobody asks men the same questions.
As a SEA girlie, I can’t speak for Japan specifically but I can say the idea of being a mom just isn’t appealing in any way to me. Between what we know about the brain damage, possible risk to life in pregnancy, and the possibility of life long debilitation from childbirth alongside having to raise a child and another human being is just not appealing in the slightest. By all means to those who do wish to, but it is certainly not for everyone.
Yeah and my home doesn’t have an increase in murder rates, just an increase of people being killed.
“Japan doesn’t have a decline in mothers, it has a rise in unlucky men.”
I don’t have a drinking problem. There’s been a decline in the amount of times I don’t drink alcohol.
I gave birth here in Japan as a foreigner , and everything from pre-natal to now that my son is 6 months old had been ONLY AMAZING.
NOT ONLY financial support is available, but there are communities for new parents/families and mothers like me. The social workers are also willing to visit the house and baby if needed.
I’m ready to have more than one child. I am seeing Japanese women in our community play room and events with multiple babies/kids as well.
Everytime I read some news like this, I really wonder why. Japan has a great social backbone for mothers. Not to mention that the leave credits working moms can take here can be extended up to 2 years. I am planning to return to work when my son turns 1.
On a side note, my husband is supportive and does house work too and takes care of our Baby on his days off. I think this might be one problem for others because by Japanese culture I think women here are expected to do all housework and make a warm dinner for husbands who are tired all day from work..
I mean, I don’t mind because I love my husband and I’m home all day now anyway, but our son is yet a Baby and honestly after a whole day with Baby I can’t do anything else anymore. That cultural pressure might be one of the reasons Japanese women are hesistant to have kids, but Japan is truly a great country when it comes to child rearing support.
I find it annoying that they say here that expanding childcare will not increase the number of kids people have because they will only invest in their existing kids more. I feel like they care more about increasing numbers, rather than insuring that existing children have a decent quality of life.
Wait, it’s not the 500 000 yen birth costs, the refusal to administer epidurals, the 40 years stagnant wages, the lack of daycares, the idiotic work culture, the putrid misogyny at the workforce, the lack of rights for children, the rampant unchecked bullying at schools, the high rent cost, the low PTO numbers, the normalization of cheating.
Of course, it’s the mothers, how did i not think of that
Why would you want to have a kid with a Japanese husband? They do the least amount of housework and childcare among men in developed nations. What’s the incentive as a woman who also most likely needs to hold down a full-time job?
No one is starving, they just aren’t able to consume enough calories! 🤦
I am personally all for the lower birthrates since eventually there will be change for the better. Not now but in the long term when everyone starts getting fed up with current society.
Parents can’t do full time work each and raise kids because raising kids is roughly 1-1.0 FTE. You can’t have on parent on no income, and *even if you did*, that parent then has no safety net if the other one dies or leaves.