Where else they gonna get their cheap slaves from?

  • throwawaylemmy [none/use name]
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    4 years ago

    I dunno about the Masters degree requirement, but them allowing immigrants in (bar the whole "gaijin"/xenophobia-that-isn't-xenophobia... not sure of the word: Immigration fears?) to help rural Japan would've been a good boon for them. They have a lot of un-lived-in homes that would benefit from weebs and others that want to move to Japan to live the life (even if temporary) and try something new.

    I dunno if it'd help the birth rate. And honestly: Do we REALLY need to help the birth-rate? Shit is going bad in the world right now, that needs to be fixed more than a slowing birth rate.

    • PresterJohnBrown [any]
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      4 years ago

      That's actually what's happening, I've heard tons of stories of foreign English teachers who think the Japanese countryside is romantic and bought old countryside manors that otherwise would just get demolished since those rural populations are rapidly dwindling and houses in these towns are cheap. They fix them up and keep them traditional since that's the whole point of moving to the countryside and buying an old Japanese house. Edit: I googled and found a story about another couple doing this: https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/japanese-country-real-estate/index.html

      It's not as much about increasing the birthrate, but increasing the number of specialized workers within Japan who pay taxes that support things like National Health Insurance, which will be increasingly burdened by Japan's aging population.

      Although, even in Japan's worst case scenario where rates had to hike up to support all the old people with the smaller younger working generation, I can't imagine that their healthcare taxes would be even close to America's regular healthcare costs. I paid $9/month for my first year in Japan since it's based on your previous year's salary, which was $0 in Japan before I moved there. The 2nd year, after pulling in about $30k in a year, was about $90 per month, still pretty affordable considering rent prices were also cheaper than what I was used to in the US.

      • throwawaylemmy [none/use name]
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        4 years ago

        Interesting.

        They also spent a lot more money than they could have -- roughly 250 thousand US dollars -- but their 130-year-old home came with about three-quarters of an acre of land, a fully mature garden with a giant Japanese cherry tree, and ancillary buildings such as a "kura," a type of earthen-walled storehouse.

        I dunno if that's good or bad relative to American and 2-9 Acre's in a city and like 50+ in a rural area.

        Interesting article. I dunno if I'd be able to do rural Japan life (I'd need internet or go insane), but the article makes it sound "romantic." I just worry those rural folks might not be so into "gaijin"'s showing up.