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Many people are not getting married because they are worried about their economic future.

10 Comments

Takanori Fujita, the director of the nonprofit organization Hot Plus, which supports people who are experiencing financial difficulties. The number of marriages in Japan in 2020 plummeted to its lowest level since the end of World War II, according to the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry in June. It attributes the decline partly to job losses and stay-at-home requests amid the coronavirus pandemic, which have resulted in people missing out on opportunities to socialize.

© Yomiuri Shimbun

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Instead of supporting weddings, instead of supporting birth rates, the government here supports pointless projects, financial black holes, the Olympics, the production of more and more childish mascots, and throws money wherever it can. Instead of supporting weddings, instead of supporting birth rates, the government here supports pointless projects, financial black holes, the Olympics, the production of more and more childish mascots, and throws money wherever it can. The latest was the go-to-travel

6 ( +8 / -2 )

Japan, stating the obvious since forever. Cutting insights!

7 ( +7 / -0 )

I can lead a fairly comfortable life in Japan as long as I stay single and never have kids. I seriously don't know how people do it here. Everyone around me earns dog excrement wages, yet I see them with kids galore, pets, cars, a house....a mystery to me.

12 ( +12 / -0 )

 Everyone around me earns dog excrement wages, yet I see them with kids galore, pets, cars, a house....a mystery to me.

I come from Canada: the least affordable place on Earth, according to numerous statistical surveys. There, the "mystery" is that people, especially young adults, go deep into debt, with households on average owing nearly 2 dollars for every dollar earned.

Personal debt and skyrocketing housing costs arent big issues in Japan. Japan isn't great, but it's affordable compared to many of its OECD peers.

4 ( +5 / -1 )

@David Brent,

I hear you regarding kids.

I only have one and even though both my wife and I work it has been a struggle to put her through college here in Japan.

Thankfully only one more payment to make before she graduates from Wasoeda next Spring.

I sometimes see young parents walking around with 2 or even 3 kids and I think to myself......enjoy now because once they hit their teens you are going to be without a paddle.

6 ( +6 / -0 )

I'm not sure how getting married would affect anyones economy in a drastic way, except maybe positively: splitting the rent and other bills, for example. I DO understand though how it can hinder you from having wedding parties and ceremonies, as well as making babies. I'm in the same boat. Married, but haven't had the funds to pay for a wedding party. I also feel it would be irresponsible to make babies without complete economic security - thus, I don't have any kids. Although - personally a bigger reason for no babies is the uncertain future of this globe / climate change.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

I come from Canada: the least affordable place on Earth, according to numerous statistical surveys. There, the "mystery" is that people, especially young adults, go deep into debt, with households on average owing nearly 2 dollars for every dollar earned. 

Personal debt and skyrocketing housing costs arent big issues in Japan. Japan isn't great, but it's affordable compared to many of its OECD peers.

I’m Canadian too and yeah by far the biggest difference in this regard is housing costs. Houses are cheap enough in Japan that working class people can still afford them, in part thanks to low interest rates (and in part because crappy small houses naturally cost less). In Canada you can’t really say that about housing in any of the major cities, its out of reach of anyone who doesn’t have inherited wealth or a job that pays much more than average.

I own a house here, but couldn’t buy one on the same salary I earn if I lived in Canada.

Its kind of weird because when I first came to Japan in the late 90s the situation was closer to the opposite.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Holy crap! A Japanese person finally speaks the truth that Japanese society refuses to hear.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

I am sure the the Japanese government will dump any money they have left on vanity projects like the Mitsubishi SpaceJet or the Maglev Chuo Shinkansen. Maybe even spend billions of taxpayer yen on some fancy theme park that nobody will visit. Anything but acknowledging the issue of rising poverty and degrading quality of life of Japanese youth.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

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