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Young women in Japan want only one child or none at all: survey

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The Japanese Government does next to nothing to make having children easier much like America does.

11 ( +27 / -16 )

This article is extremely depressing but the reasons for the pessimism are not surprising to me.

During this pandemic the Japanese government failed to support a large number of citizens and THAT clearly has influenced the minds of the the young.

Early on I recognized this failure to act-completely rearranged my finances and changed direction.

Financially, more secure and able to relax.

The lesson is do not rely on anyone but yourself and do not be afraid to change!

16 ( +24 / -8 )

Gloomy on every level.

And still old thinking that marriage shall be relating to number of children.

There is no much incentive in getting married compare to the risks.

Children deserve far far better state advantages. Giving currently those to oyajis is certain failure.

By the way, nothing can stop falling demography for the next two generations, which are lost (financially broke...).

28 ( +31 / -3 )

Most young women in Japan who are hoping to get married want only one child or none at all,

Most young women SURVEYED here! One can not extrapolate the data to include everyone. A lot depends upon where one lives in Japan. Okinawa is top in all of Japan with a birth rate of 1.94 fertility rate. It is not uncommon at all here to see couples with 2 or 3 children.

The support system within families here makes it possible. Yeah there are problems, but Okinawa is doing it's part to keep the population up!

14 ( +23 / -9 )

Unsurprising.

-3 ( +14 / -17 )

Not where I live. There are many young mothers with 2-3 children living in nice houses.

8 ( +16 / -8 )

Young women in Japan = Young women in Tokyo/Osaka/Nagoya.

Other places are fine, big houses, big families. 4/5LDK (parking for 2 cars included) for rent in smaller capitals: 60.000 yen.

18 ( +26 / -8 )

Yep. Japan is screwed

-11 ( +16 / -27 )

It’s reassuring to know that more than 80% of young people of both sexes still want to get married. If the government stops its tight fiscal policy and the economy picks up, they will want to have more children.

6 ( +13 / -7 )

This is certainly not true in rural areas in Japan where it is not uncommon to see families with three or more children. This is a Tokyo-based survey.

The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development recommends an average fertility rate of 2.1 births over a woman's lifetime for the maintenance of a stable population.

The problem with OPEC is that they see endless population growth as a necessity for economic growth. Japan has been showing this to be a myth, and is consciously choosing to reduce the population - for many reasons, the environment being one of them.

12 ( +17 / -5 )

This just tells me that women are starting to understand that there is little to no advantage for them to get married to a typical conservative male who expects his little wifey to stay home to cook and clean for him, and that men are beginning to expect that their wives work and contribute equally in terms of household income.

Hopefully these groups will come to realize that they can shape their marriages in any way they please, and they don't have to follow traditional gender roles and norms. That would go far in making marriage more attractive.

But the government is going to have to come to terms with that fact that birth rates are falling for good reason, and unless they find a way to better support young families, this downward trend will be permanent.

I can't see that happening very soon though, since as we all know, Japanese society changes very very slowly, with much wailing and sucking of teeth from the old dinosaurs who see women as nothing but baby-making machines and men as cogs in the wheels of corporations.

-1 ( +21 / -22 )

reason to marry is to have children and family.

if young women want have just one kid as max-this just confirms society heading to sharp decline of population/tax payers in next few decades.if they want to marry without plans to have any kids-there is no reason to marry at all than as couple can live same lifestyle without marraiage as well.

as Michael Machida wrote-jpn gov doing nothing to support young families with children.oyaji clans does not care about future of Japan as they need pocket piles of cash from budget now form them and their friends...

-5 ( +7 / -12 )

We live in inaka and almost all our kids' friends have brothers and sisters. It'll be over 90%.

Rewind 20 years and would their mothers have said "I want at least two kids" before even meeting their husbands? When asked, many young Japanese women famously say things like "I want my husband to earn at least six million yen", something the vast majority of men under 35 do not do. There is a big gap between what people say they want and what they end up doing. While it is important for the government to understand social changes, I'd measure them with the focus on what people do, not want people (especially the young and inexperienced) say they want in their imaginary future.

10 ( +14 / -4 )

This is NOT a Japanese women desire only, many modern and industrialized nations women are already entering this trend as women become more independent and have access to higher education and better jobs.

Having a child is a heavy burden for most working women or families, and many can't even afford it and local municipalities are doing almost NOTHING to help improve the situation, in fact they make it even harder to have a child with all their rules and demands.

15 ( +19 / -4 )

It has absolutely Nothing to do with the pandemic. It's because Japanese corporations make it hard for Japanese to have babies, despite there being a fantastic child care leave in place.

If Japan wants to have more babies they first need to fix their disgusting social norms.

4 ( +16 / -12 )

@finally rich

Young women in Japan = Young women in Tokyo/Osaka/Nagoya.

Other places are fine, big houses, big families. 4/5LDK (parking for 2 cars included) for rent in smaller capitals: 60.000 yen.

In those more rural places, the pay is also a lot less to go with that 60,000 rent.

There is also very little to do to pass the time but have sex with each other. That increases the chances of pregnancy.

When people feel like they have more options, generally they will be more strategic in decision making because they want tot have their cake an eat it too. Women with a career or career goals are not going to let multiple pregnancies interfere with their longterm plans.

Finances are big part, but ambition also has a significant role. Serena Williams retired partly because she wants another child.

3 ( +6 / -3 )

Meiyouwent

If the government stops its tight fiscal policy and the economy picks up, they will want to have more children.

In case you haven’t noticed Japan has the highest debt to GDP ratio among the developed countries!

Is it a tight fiscal policy monetary policy for you?

Both fiscal and monetary policies have been super accommodative for ages.

What we need is not more public spending but better public spending.

3 ( +5 / -2 )

Being a parent was the best job I have ever had.

10 ( +14 / -4 )

Young women in Japan want only one child or none at all

Duh…..

well, maybe just maybe things would be different if:

they made better maternity and paternity benefits for working parents?

gave more tax breaks for married couples with children?

offered more day care facilities and centralized to the city, as well as in major companies. Then parents could actual go to work and see their children as well?

paid said day care workers a better salary as to attract more workers into the industry?

get rid of the small minded men who thinks it’s “women’s” work to take care of the kids?

have deadbeat and divorced dads pay child support and make it illegal not to. And actually enforce this law?

make it illegal and actually enforce it, to not have companies make workers do unpaid overtime and have meetings or workshops past working hours. If they do, it’s automatic double pay. That includes nomiakis?

this list could go on and on and on……

4 ( +8 / -4 )

48.2 percent of men cited a partner's earning potential, up from 41.9 percent.

How the mighty have fallen! 奥さん used to hold the fort while 財布のひもを握る was the man’s prerogative. The writing is on the wall though and more it seems aren’t reluctant to be the ひも.

-10 ( +0 / -10 )

It costs roughly 20 million yen just for education alone per child if you want to send kids to what Japanese consider "good" schools and after school programs. Our pensions will be non existent when we are at retirement age after spending loads of money raising a child. Our wages aren't expected to increase enough to meet the inflated amount during retirement, hence how much we have in savings will be questionable (including investments and even dual income). We'll be expected to just rot on the streets after automation has taken over all jobs that seniors can do today. So yeah I can see why they believe one child or none is appropriate.

2 ( +6 / -4 )

Its not just that women are not wanting children or fewer children, they are becoming more selective in a partner too. Even women that are over 35 and have "baby rabies" are not willing to settle for just anybody.

From my experience, I found it much easier when I first moved to Japan in 2007 to get dates and get into a relationship. Sure, I was much younger, but even in the last 5 years I've noticed the majority of women that I've met on dating apps still haven't found a partner. I often see the same profiles over and over again. Attractive women in their late 30s wanting to start a family, yet they can't find a guy. They'll say things like "I didn't feel a connection" or "we didn't click" after the date. Sadly, those women are still single and childless. I'm not a bad looking guy either, got a decent job, I keep myself in shape, yet these woman are waiting for someone that looks like Adam Levine or Ryan Gosling to come along.

Sure, its also men. I know the whole MGTOW (Men going their own way) has become a "thing" in recent years. Men aren't interested in starting a family (especially foreign men with a Japanese woman after hearing the horror stories). But of the men that are ready, women are particularly selective. They keep their profiles up on the dating apps just in case something better might come along.

3 ( +8 / -5 )

Who could possibly have kids when they barely make enough money to survive and take care of themselves in the current economy? No child should have to be born into poverty and/or an unwilling family purely for the sake of "keeping up the population".

Particularly for women, unless you *really** *want to have kids, there are 0 benefits to having them. Many downsides, but zero benefits. That is simply the truth of the matter.

2 ( +7 / -5 )

Nobody wants to share a bedroom with three kids.

0 ( +3 / -3 )

Get married and have kids just so someone else (schools & teachers) raise their kids coz no time for the family. The same for those teachers. Unjustified overtime still a thing in Japan, no nurseries or long waiting list, cost of everything. Added to all that, unemployment and lost businesses due to the pandemic. Now war.

The birthrate will sink even deeper. That goes to many countries.

5 ( +6 / -1 )

I could understand such reluctance in a very poor or developing country, but Japan is among the most developed in the world with high standards of living for most of the population. There's no excuse for most people. This is national suicide. Reproduce or perish Japan.

-4 ( +4 / -8 )

I could understand such reluctance in a very poor or developing country, but Japan is among the most developed in the world with high standards of living for most of the population. There's no excuse for most people. This is national suicide. Reproduce or perish Japan.

I think you have things mixed up.

In the developing world, having more children is seen as a financial boon.

In the developed world, the opposite. Not just Japan.

If Japanese are choosing collectively to have a smaller population (around 60 million ultimately is logical) then that is ultimately their choice. And will probably lead to a higher standard of living for all.

2 ( +5 / -3 )

This just tells me that women are starting to understand that there is little to no advantage for them to get married to a typical conservative male who expects his little wifey to stay home to cook and clean for him, and that men are beginning to expect that their wives work and contribute equally in terms of household income.

Yet we still see these surveys that show women are more interested in marrying into money than for love. There was an article about it the other day.

I guess you get what you deserve. You want to go for a rich guy, then prepare to become a member of his staff.

As a father of 6, i can tell you that over the years i have met far more good fathers and husbands than these mythical slavedrivers . . . Then again i guess they are too busy working to be around.

7 ( +8 / -1 )

I don't mind folks not getting married or not having kids or whatever. There are many roads to happiness.

But I don't think the "parasite single" livestyle, living with your parents as an adult and still getting your mother to cook, and wash clothes, and pay for stuff, that's not good. You should get out and live your own life, and it is a step backwards if working young people cannot afford to do so.

4 ( +4 / -0 )

Chabbawanga, you say "surveys". I'd be interested to see these multiple recent surveys you bring up. Even if what you say is true, it's no different than men who prefer to marry a woman who is physically beautiful rather than for love. Some people get married for shallow reasons, and that goes both ways. It doesn't give a reason for someone to abuse their spouse or expect their spouse to do most of the work in a two-way partnership.

Also worth noting that stereotypical gender roles (man works, woman stays home and cooks and cleans and takes care of the children) are much stronger here in Japan, even now. There's a reason Japan is ranked a measly 116 out of 146 countries on gender equality: https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2022/07/13/national/gender-gap-ranking/

So, great for you that you know "far more good fathers and husbands". But I would imagine that the women of Japan know a good bit more about what typical fathers and husbands are like to their wives in their own country.

-2 ( +2 / -4 )

Woops, there goes the country.

-6 ( +1 / -7 )

My missus wants a rugby team, with subs!

I'm in my mid 50's and I'm completely exhausted.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Lots of people are not psychological mature,to bring children into the world,to deal with legal and ethical upkeep of another human being,lots of people have children to validate some social expectations of them,

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

"The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development recommends an average fertility rate of 2.1 births over a woman's lifetime for the maintenance of a stable population."

There lots of stuff I want, too, like a new house, car, computer... the works. But, they don't pay for themselves, and I have to work long and hard for them. Demanding women have more babies while making them pay more for it, giving no support, cutting child benefits in favor of corporate tax breaks and the like, and all the while demanding they both stay at home AND work in dual-income households? Why on earth would people opt for children in modern Japan?

1 ( +4 / -3 )

Fighto!: "The problem with OPEC is that they see endless population growth as a necessity for economic growth. Japan has been showing this to be a myth, and is consciously choosing to reduce the population - for many reasons, the environment being one of them."

Nonsense! "consciously choosing"? Every single day you hear about how the next generations are never going to be able to support the soon to be 50% of the population being seniors. Never. Where is the money going to come from if they "consciously choosing" to lower the population? Japan is facing a demographic crisis that will see the country disappear into poverty and slip from the now #3 economy to #7 by the end of this decade of nothing changes, and third-world soon after.

-5 ( +2 / -7 )

Japan is facing a demographic crisis that will see the country disappear into poverty and slip from the now #3 economy to #7 by the end of this decade of nothing changes, and third-world soon after.

Possibly. That can always print money. Anyway, the population will eventually balance out in 1 or 2 decades and the country will be in a much stronger position as long as they don’t panic and import 10th century uneducated slobs.

invalid CSRF

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

*The Japanese Government does next to nothing to make having children easier *much like America does.

I beg to differ here. The two biggest gut punches in the US are probably preschool and college tuitions. I pay $1,600 a month for my kid's preschool in the US, and it isn't some fancy place where they all learn to play the cello and speak 6 languages; it's just a preschool. And we all know what college costs in the US.

In Japan, the town preschools are of a high quality and on a sliding income scale, with even the wealthy families paying a very reasonable amount. My buddy, not rich or poor, pays the equivelent of about $200 for his kid's preschool. A kid can attend a good college for often not much more than the equivalent of $7,000 a year, and often less. Not chump change, but not a kick in the teeth either.

I'd assume that both of these relatively low-cost expenses are the price they are due to government subsidies, be they local government in the case of the town preschool, or the prefectural and national governments with the colleges. In the US, even the public universities are pretty expensive these days. The school near my house (UMass) serves sushi in the dining halls and builds $100 million dollar gyms for the varsity teams. Perhaps they should cut the crap with the fancy stuff a bit, subsidize it a bit more, and drop the tuition so kids don't get slammed in the buns so hard with loans. Tuition there is 2-3 times what a Japanese students (or their parents) pay.

4 ( +4 / -0 )

So, great for you that you know "far more good fathers and husbands". But I would imagine that the women of Japan know a good bit more about what typical fathers and husbands are like to their wives in their own country

Why would you assume that? They arent all part of some hivemind.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

Stop blaming the Japanese government.... young people these days don't have the same sense of responsibility to think about future generations, only thinking about themselves. It was different in my day.

-3 ( +2 / -5 )

They arent all part of some hivemind.

Japan is a high-context culture, which is as close to hive-mind as actually exists in humans.

-2 ( +2 / -4 )

A woman who grows old without having a child becomes an unhappy 'old maid' because to bear a child is the fulfilment of a woman's life.

-2 ( +3 / -5 )

It was different in my day.

I hope you were being sarcastic.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Lots of divorces and deadbeat dads who don’t pay child support. Women have to be painfully careful about who they marry and raise children with.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

So do men.

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

@Peter Neil

True, but wouldn’t you agree that life for Japanese single mothers, especially without any child support, is more difficult than for Japanese single fathers?

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Japan is a high-context culture, which is as close to hive-mind as actually exists in humans.

That may be so, but unfortunately feeling more in tune with others in your group, doesnt actually mean your have any additional experience or knowldge of other peoples relationships.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Stephen ChinToday 12:13 am JST

A woman who grows old without having a child becomes an unhappy 'old maid' because to bear a child is the fulfilment of a woman's life.

My goodness, this is really the best comment here because it is simply hilarious. You really shouldn't be thinking that all women are the same.

I have never had even the slightest desire to have children. I am more than happy to leave the baby-making to the women who actually want them.

It is just so weird that men say things like this. I never hear women say "A man who grows old without having a child becomes an unhappy 'old maid' because to have a child is the fulfilment of a man's life."

0 ( +3 / -3 )

No surprises. You need to be earning a decent salary to raise more than one child so you can give them a decent life. Most of the jobs young Japanese are doing pay peanuts and many are just living from paycheck to paycheck. Furthermore they have to pay into a very expensive health insurance and pension scheme which supports the growing elderly population. That takes a big chunk out of their monthly pay check. The economics of it all has to change or Japan will be full of old people by 2040. The pension system looks dodgy too and if you are in your 20s, I wouldn't count on receiving a pension when you're 60.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

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