lunheim comments

Happy birthday to Emperor Emeritus Akihito. I virtually run into him a number of years ago, at the Norwegian Institute of Technology. He was making an unannounced visit with his wife. I came running down the main stairway and and older Asian gentleman stepped aside to make way for the young professor in a hurry. Later a colleague told me: "Do you know who you almost run down today? The emperor om Japan". I still remember the mild, friendly smile on his face when I passed him in a rush. Had I known any Japanese at that time I would have said 申し訳ございません. Luckily I'm still allowed to enter Japan in spite of such an inexcusable 失礼.

Some people here claim that Japan has an exceptionally high suicide rate. That is not the case. Japan's suicide rate (14.3) , according to WHO statistics, is approximately the same as e.g. Sweden (13.8) and the US (13.7) (ref. the Wikipedia article on global suicide rates).

I guess this impression has been created partly because of Western fascination with cultural phenomena like ritual suicide ("harakiri/seppuku").

I am not surprised that this young woman had spent a year in Denmark as an exchange student. Norway, where I live, has pushed "gender equality" even further than Denmark and is seen by many as a global beacon of feminism. Here women now dominate most sectors of society, including politics, the courts, academia etc. The only statistic dominated by seem to be the suicide statistics. However, at the same time, Norwegian women suffer more from psychological disorders than ever before, are complaining more than ever before, and most relationships have become dysfunctional. So Japan - be careful what you wish for.

Ok. But please don't let them become like Norwegian children, who are noisy with no manners, are totally spoilt and boss their parents around. I love children in Japan, and I hate them in Norway, my native country.

This is munkey business.

A smaller population will be good for Japan. There will be less competition for resources and people will be happier. With less crowding and stress, the fertility rate is likely to increase and the population will stabilize at a sustainable level. The transition periode will be challenging, but manageable.

Opening up for massive immigration is like peeing in your pants to keep warm. We have done that mistake here in Scandinavia (e.g. Sweden) and the effects are visible in the form of increasing crime rates, erosion of social harmony, incidents of terrorism and unsustainable increase in the cost of maintaining our welfare state. Our societies are slowly being torn apart, although we don't like to admit it.

Japan is a unique country bound together by an ancient, sophisticated cultural fabric. Please keep it that way.