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Japan needs bigger sense of crisis

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© 2012 AFP

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Personally I hate people that can stay calm when they shouldn't be. Y'all need to lose your heads more often and for pettier reasons.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

"Hey! You're black!" said the pot to the kettle.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Japan's quality of life, standard of living have IMPROVED, not declined since the bubble. Am I the only one who feels this?

Probably yes! Mine is pretty good too BUT I MADE changes to make it happen! Otherwise I wud still in some cramped "mansion" banging my elbows off the walls, not so slowly going insane LOL! Thing is you need to recognise things can be better & then go for it, the vast majority stick with the dismal shoganai thing tho!

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Global capitalists like this guy resent the fact that Japan has managed full employment after 2 decades of recession, thanks largely to avoiding mass immigration and maintaining the nuclear family.

Big business simply wants cheap, abundant labor, and more consumers to sell to. The rest of us can suffer joblessness, broken families, as a result, for all they care. The most important thing is that the multinational corporations can hoard their billions in profits.

Japan's quality of life, standard of living have IMPROVED, not declined since the bubble. Am I the only one who feels this?

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Like I have been saying for years on end now, JAPAN NEEDS TO RE-INVENT ITSELF BIGTIME!

If it doesnt, the rot will just continue, live for many here cud be much much better, but no one seems to want it or how ot go about it, the majority here are ""happy"" making sure everyone around them is sufficiently miserable, & they are very good at it, thats why life quality is SO LOW for far too many & the crazy thing there is no need for it what so ever, but unless the locals want to make changes for the better we will continue to see changes for the worse!

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Sinbios...I`m afraid I agree fully with your point of view. I have a lot of friends who are salarymen 24/7 and yes when we occasionally get the time to have a drink they say they are deeply unhappy at the constant grinding work that they have to do that absorbs every minute of their lives. They want to change...but are constantly in fear of losing there jobs. Yes we need more equality in Japan, we need more women on the work force, better opportunities and advantages to create a happier more productive workforce where the age of men working 24/7 no longer exists. This is not my view, this is the voice of the Japanese salaryman and I agree with them.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Caps1, allow me to restate my position but with more details. But first:

Hyperbole: ('exaggeration') is the use of exaggeration as a rhetorical device or figure of speech. It may be used to evoke strong feelings or to create a strong impression, but is not meant to be taken literally. (from Wikipedia)

I am sorry if you took my statement literally, maybe I should had specified that I don't think that every person here is the way I said. But now, if you have the chance, take a look around a big Japanese train station right before the last trains, take a look at zones that only have taverns left and right. Take also a look at the position of Japan in the Happy Planet Index and the suicide rate. And if you have the chance, have a talk with normal Japanese "salaryman" after they have had a few drinks, enough to stop pretending that they are happy, because a lot of them will begin to tell you how they really feel.

And I can put you another few examples, but those are statements of people I know and i don't like to invade their privacy. Yes, not all Japanese people are the way I stated before (again, I was trying to make a point through exaggeration) and I know also many Japanese people that are happy, have children, enjoy their jobs, etc. But just saying "Oh, what an ignorant" without giving any kind of argument... But again, allow me to apologize to you and whoever else that got offended.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

“sense of crisis”

Hmm, sounds more like someone with OCD than from the OECD...

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Maybe then the men would be able to get more holidays, get more sleep, be more productive and think about having kids other than getting drunk after work and women would be able to think about working and offer all their creative ideas that many men wouldn't be able to have and to again, have kids. And well, while you are at it, we can improve their happiness level so they don't commit suicide, enjoy their lives...it's just an idea.

Once again...words from a westerners generalistic view

-3 ( +1 / -4 )

Even with the Equal Employment Act placed in the 80s, couldn't change the sense of equality in men's minds. Although it allowed many benefits, trying to pursue a normal career in large companies (especially old companies) is harder than ever. These companies just need a few woman managers in the lowest level to show that they are doing the best they can, and after that, they just say there is noone fit to be in that position.

My case, one of the top management person declared that there is no position for women since they are not moveable like chess pieces. Oh, they do that to men here.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

We don't have to make nothing attractive, we have to put inside the people's head that men and women are equal and therefore they are supposed to have the same rights and be treated as equal. Then maybe they will stop thinking that it is "normal" to think that the men are supposed to become business man and to work 24/7 and that the women are supposed to be at home washing the dishes and making dinner while being really feminine.

Maybe then the men would be able to get more holidays, get more sleep, be more productive and think about having kids other than getting drunk after work and women would be able to think about working and offer all their creative ideas that many men wouldn't be able to have and to again, have kids.

And well, while you are at it, we can improve their happiness level so they don't commit suicide, enjoy their lives...it's just an idea.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

“We have to make it attractive for women to get back in to jobs. This is a priority for Japan.”

this assumes that 'real' jobs exist for women which they never have and never will unless you run your own company

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Which country is not in crisis?

Every country seems to have it's own crisis brewing.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

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