The cost of education for one child through college is said to be more than ¥10 million, which makes me cautious about getting married and having children.

How does this stop you from getting married? One step at a time brother.

No need to wait until college, even families in Japan with babies now need suffer with high price. What JGovt has done so far?

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2023/06/29/business/economy-business/baby-products-price-inflation/

https://english.kyodonews.net/news/2023/08/a5ab91062795-families-with-babies-in-japan-facing-steeper-price-hikes.html

So in other words this guy is a selfish person who would rather only think of himself and not have a family!

Sensationalist, selfish nonsense. Of course children cost money, but they're worth it. Some people, unfortunately, just have no understanding whatsoever of the genuine joys of being a parent. Your life absolutely changes, and you lose aspects of your old life, but its a step forward to have children, not a step back. These people are just scared of moving on in life.

The cost of education for one child through college is said to be more than ¥10 million

Yes and no. Yes if you are foolish enough to sign your kids up for every naraigoto and juku and kumon and sports team..... you can find. Ditto if you want them to go to private schools. No if you use common sense.

School uniforms? Most neighborhoods have a used uniform "market" where people just pass them around, especially for the PE clothes. Same with recorders for their music class. Naraigoto? I only let my kids do one at a time. Gave them time to be kids and us time to be a family. They could change after one year if they wanted to try something new. Juku? When my kids needed help with math, we found some great videos on YouTube for nothing. Tons of free educational videos and websites. Learning experiences? There are tons of free taiken classes at museums, libraries, science centers...almost every weekend. We got flier from school on a regular basis. If you spend 10 million yen educating your child, you need a few lessons in finance.

Until I got kids myself I never really realized how expensive education is in Japan. Kids are all worth it, but you really need a well paid job for all the litte extra fees in school (uniforms, lunch fee, school trips), prep schools and then university. 10 million per kid is probably on the low end.

And the cost of not having kids at all? Let’s put a monetary figure on that!

¥10 million is a drop in the bucket. That same child will earn far more in less than five years in the workforce.

This prevalent pessimism toward the future is Japan’s undoing.

He's not wrong and he's been very realistic about the fact of having kids. People calling him selfish for been realistic are the same people who will be calling on him "people like this shouldn't be allow to have kids" if things went south in the future.

mikeylikesitToday 01:15 pm JST

Are you under the impression that kids think it is okay to pay for their parents? And you have to be lucky and support for a long time to reach them being self sufficient.

One of the solution is to let this 31-year-old man in Kanagawa Prefecture keep his entire wages devoid of paying income tax. As long as the advertising company is paying corporate taxes. That way he will have enough savings for his family.

So in other words this guy is a selfish person who would rather only think of himself and not have a family!

Terribly obvious this is not even close to be accurate, someone selfish would not care about supporting a child through college, they would simply have children and if there is not enough money for them to be whatever they want to be as adults then "too bad". This person is simply not irresponsible enough to have children without being able to support them.

Sensationalist, selfish nonsense. Of course children cost money, but they're worth it.

They are worth what? not having enough to support them properly? that would be the selfish option. Also if you personally find joyful something that is a lousy argument to prove other people will feel the same, specially when they have to worry with the very real possibility of children having a life full of frustration and problems because of a life without enough economic stability.

Most 31 year olds working f/t in advertising will have quite big salaries and have come from well off families. Were he to marry in a year's time and have a child two years later, he's looking at 52 by the time the kid goes to college, with grandparents who are likely 80. That's plenty of time for him to save up, and for gramps to reach an age where they should be thinking of passing on money. With people having kids later and living longer, the issue of passing on money between generations should really shift from inheritances to gifting money to your kids and grandkids when they need it. I suspect most parents would like to receive an inheritance while still raising kids so they can struggle less and do more things with them, not just get a big wad when their youngest is 23. Its not going to be "life changing" at that time. For context, the Boomer generation dieing off is the biggest transfer of wealth in human history. There is money in the world, its just not with the people working and raising kids.

As a parent, I doubt a single guy who is 31 has much idea about what assistance is available to families and how much people actually pay. As collegepark says, real life parents are resourceful people and not just trotting down the shops to pay full price for everything some clickbait lists in its "OMG! Kids so pricey!" reporting.

kohakuebisuToday 03:57 pm JST

I suppose in exchange for transferring their bank account, the grandparents can expect to receive infinite care in an elder care home? Then you have the matter that they still need food and housing until they need that.

So Virusrex, what if this guys parents had the same worries and decided not to have him. He was born after the bubble, so it was not the easiest time for families, but they went ahead and had their son and raised him the best they could.

Most 31 year olds working f/t in advertising will have quite big salaries and have come from well off families. 

That is not true, advertising jobs have a relatively high average salary (around 5 mil yen a year for his age), but that is because of the huge salaries paid on big companies (like Dentsu or Hakuhodo), but if he is working on a local company he is only making a fraction of that, and obviously he is not coming from a rich family. If that is the case he is not going to be able to save enough without a wife working full time in a position that pays at least the same and that would require a lot of social support that may not be there.

A rule I came up with a few years ago is “if someone says they don’t want to have a child or don’t want to be married, they’re right.”

So Virusrex, what if this guys parents had the same worries and decided not to have him

What about it? nobody would be here to complain about it.

He was born after the bubble, so it was not the easiest time for families, but they went ahead and had their son and raised him the best they could.

Even if his family had a hard time around his birth (not something that happened universally), that would only mean that he had to deal with a lot of difficulties and that would explain why he doesn't feel like imposing them into his children, not exactly something difficult to understand.

Related to the cost of raising kids the main problem I think is unstable income or employment.

If one is stable financially, even if not so well off, I think one would be more open and confident having kids.

Govt need to address unstable employment and income

"So in other words this guy is a selfish person who would rather only think of himself and not have a family!"

It is his choice, nobodys business if he doesnt want kids or family becuase of too expensive cost.