Japan’s birth rate isn’t even that low anymore comparatively to other nations.
Take a look at South Korea. It’s nearly half of Japan. Japan is like 1.3 (OP’s article) and SK is at 0.7 (https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/south-koreas-fertility-rate-dropped-fresh-record-low-2023-2024-02-28/). SK is the absolute dead last in the world. Even China is lower than Japan now at 1.2 even after getting rid of the 1 child policy.
Think the west is any different? Canada also hovers at round 1.3. (https://nationalpost.com/opinion/canadas-birth-rate-has-dropped-off-a-cliff-and-its-because-nobody-can-afford-housing - just sourcing 1.3, I don’t actually agree with their reasoning) Canada’s population only increases because of massive immigration they accept. And immigrants from poorer countries are more likely to have children than existing. So, might even rival SK if we were to not count 1st/2nd gen immigrants, though we don’t have such exact data collection, only corollary.
I see what you’re trying to say but immigration simply is an important part and especially feasible for huge countries like Canada. Good luck on getting proper immigration programs up and running in SK, Japan or especially China though. Foreign workers are of course at an all time high in Japan, but it‘s not on a western level and the push back is fierce there as well. The stigma there is on a whole different level, making immigration especially uncomfortable.
And yet, business as usual continues. The older decision makers have to move out the way for things to progress. The same is true in many other countries.
While lower birth rates may lead to economic issues on a medium term (too many old people VS. too few young people), it’s probably one of the most efficient measures to combat climate change. Less people comsuming ressources means less pollution and hopefully also less competition and conflicts for said ressources.
Even though I’ll be probably one of the many old people one day that the society may not be able to support adequately, I think that it’s positive news for humanity.
From my perspective, the best way to deal with a shrinking population would be a shift away from capitalism in its current form. Infinite growth, bigger, faster etc. is not a realistic and definitely not a sustainable target.
We should focus on the basic needs to make food, housing, care etc. affordable for everyone with as few working hours as possible, so that less people are able to do the job.
My Mexican people? Where are they? Do japanese tortillerias not exist? Tortillerias are the key! We Mexican people fuck like bunnies supposedly allegedly. So just bring a few, do some testing and if they like the results let’s get some more!
Do japanese tortillerias not exist?
Not really. Also, finding good mexican food in Japan can be quite rough (especially out of the bigger few cities, and many places adjust to Japanese tastes).
Sounds like a job for a special kind of Mexican. All we need is one who can carry a corn seed to fruition. From there, once you got 1 ear of corn and probably beans too, you can mexicanize. That’s the reason there are no humans in Mars yet. Why? No tortillas man!
