Japan appreciation thread

[phuckphace]

disclaimer: I'm not a weeaboo and this ain't a weeaboo thread

Japanese people are my fave Asians hands down http://i.imgur.com/MclEtyn.gif although I have little interest in learning Japanese or visiting it irl, I've always been fascinated by them. although we here in the West are masterrace we can still take some tips from the favorite island country of anime fans the West over.

those here in the RoTW crew have probably seen me post a lot about ethnic+cultural homogeneity and how vital it is for social stability. when you go to Japan, you are surrounded on all four sides by an endless sea of nothing but Japanese people, an almost incomprehensible idea to us dead frogs at the bottom of the Western melting pot. unsurprisingly (to me) due to same, Japan enjoys an absurdly low violent crime rate and, as made famous by their recent earthquake foreboding the return of Godzira, solidarity is maintained even in the midst of huge disasters. so what's the secret, is it some extra dank chakra from the spirit world? you could say that - but it's also known as ethnonationalism. a big pinch of lite-authoritarian nationalism stirred into market capitalism does wonders for extending its life and making it suck slightly less than it does.

Japan has relatively few immigrants and, according to my sources, the few they do have are only barely tolerated on a good day. there probably will never be a massive influx of poors into Japan at Western levels unless they elect some especially douchebaggy nihilist who just wants to watch the world burn. but whatever happens I wouldn't be surprised to see Grorious Nippon come out far less fazed than we.

having said all that I'm not a fan of Japan's population density and salaryman customs (seems miserable) but even here we can note how much worse they'd be having it if they did things like us.

[Judean Zealot]

I have only one word to say: sushi.

[Stronk Serb]

I agree, they enjoy far more safety than westerners. In some places people are afraid to go to the grocery store while in Japan it is routine and safe.

[Vlerchan]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/bf/Liquidity_trap_IS-LM.svg/2000px-Liquidity_trap_IS-LM.svg.png

[Sucking the fun out of VT - one thread at a time.]

[sqishy]

image (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/bf/Liquidity_trap_IS-LM.svg/2000px-Liquidity_trap_IS-LM.svg.png)

[Sucking the fun out of VT - one thread at a time.]

What is that? I want to know!

[lacey02]

Love Sobe noodles, sushi and sashimi

[phuckphace]

I have only one word to say: sushi.

how about a sex robot that makes sushi? in Japan you can!

I agree, they enjoy far more safety than westerners. In some places people are afraid to go to the grocery store while in Japan it is routine and safe.

last time I walked to the gas station at 3:00 AM I took it very slowly and tried to make each minute last. the number of places and opportunities I'm able to do this and live to tell the tale are rapidly diminishing by the day.

image (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/bf/Liquidity_trap_IS-LM.svg/2000px-Liquidity_trap_IS-LM.svg.png)

uh oh a liquidity trap

how can glorious Nippon wiggle their way out of this? I hope this isn't going where I think it's going :(

[Porpoise101]

Good: Robots, sushi, balance between urbanised areas and wilderness, nice watercolor paintings

Bad: Gentrification, too much fermentation, whaling (bad for porpoises)

[Jinglebottom]

Thank you for Nintendo.

[Vlerchan]

I hope this isn't going where I think it's going[.]
Don't worry I'm not going to start throwing around the I-word :).

What is that? I want to know!
phuckphace had it: It's a diagrammatic representation of a liquidity-trap.

The issue with Japan is that a number of structural issues disincentive firms investing and thus conventional monetary policy (re: LM) is useless. It rather needs to induce increased spending (re: IS) but the conventional wisdom of fiscal stimulus isn't available because people realise it's unsustainable. It's a structural nightmare and that's without considering the business creation issues I've been told exist.

---

LM stands for liquidity-monetary and refers to the amount of cash in circulation.
IS stands for investment savings and refers to the spending level.
Y refers to the national income.

[Bontigo Papi .]

Well, Japan, is a cool place, its sushi is delicious, they're inventions are awesome. Only thing that I don't appreciate is their cars, I don't hate them, its just German rules that department.

[sqishy]

phuckphace had it: It's a diagrammatic representation of a liquidity-trap.

The issue with Japan is that a number of structural issues disincentive firms investing and thus conventional monetary policy (re: LM) is useless. It rather needs to induce increased spending (re: IS) but the conventional wisdom of fiscal stimulus isn't available because people realise it's unsustainable. It's a structural nightmare and that's without considering the business creation issues I've been told exist.

---

LM stands for liquidity-monetary and refers to the amount of cash in circulation.
IS stands for investment savings and refers to the spending level.
Y refers to the national income.

Alright.

[Sir Suomi]

Aren't they running into an issue though of having too many old people sucking the funds out of their social welfare programs, as well as a rapidly declining population due to low birth rates?

Also, WWII-era Japs were quite formidable, and definitely proved to be a worthy adversary of the Americans in the war.

[Vlerchan]

Aren't they running into an issue though of having too many old people sucking the funds out of their social welfare programs, as well as a rapidly declining population due to low birth rates?
Japan has [perhaps 'had' - juries still out] a structural bias towards rising savings rates and personal debt levels were at such a rate that consumption couldn't be raised through debt-led channels. This led to their being no scope for investment in capital and thus despite interest rates being at the zero-lower bound (~0%) firms maintained a savings rate of something ridiculous like 15%. Japanese demographics being in a state of natural decline - to the sum of hundreds of thousands - has compounded a long-standing issue.

To be clear a high saving rate is a good thing and Ireland - for example - has a rate higher than Japan. Issues arise when there's a structural bias towards rising savings and firm's expectations are distorted.

That's also a still-short version. But I'm attempting to keep this to a length that people might continue to read the post until the end.

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I'm also not sure about social programmes in Japan. Far as I'm aware it's spending on social programmes is one of the lowest of developed countries.

[phuckphace]

Well, Japan, is a cool place, its sushi is delicious, they're inventions are awesome. Only thing that I don't appreciate is their cars, I don't hate them, its just Germany rules that department.

German rule is best rule

[Capto]

Thanks fam.

[everlong]

Big time Nintendo fan

[Uniquemind]

Love Japan.


However I wish they'd reproduce more.

A big societal problem is that Japanese women seem to be unappealing to Japanese men, and so they aren't reproducing a new generation.

[phuckphace]

Thanks fam.

is this you (pls say yes)

http://i.imgur.com/T4a7sO2.jpg

[Uniquemind]

Japan has [perhaps 'had' - juries still out] a structural bias towards rising savings rates and personal debt levels were at such a rate that consumption couldn't be raised through debt-led channels. This led to their being no scope for investment in capital and thus despite interest rates being at the zero-lower bound (~0%) firms maintained a savings rate of something ridiculous like 15%. Japanese demographics being in a state of natural decline - to the sum of hundreds of thousands - has compounded a long-standing issue.

To be clear a high saving rate is a good thing and Ireland - for example - has a rate higher than Japan. Issues arise when there's a structural bias towards rising savings and firm's expectations are distorted.

That's also a still-short version. But I'm attempting to keep this to a length that people might continue to read the post until the end.

---

I'm also not sure about social programmes in Japan. Far as I'm aware it's spending on social programmes is one of the lowest of developed countries.

So they have the opposite problem USA has, which is we spend too much and save too little?

[Vlerchan]

So they have the opposite problem USA has, which is we spend too much and save too little?
Sure. Though at worst here long-term U.S. growth is diminished.

It's also something that can be rectified through a number of simple initiatives (https://nudges.wordpress.com/tag/saving/) [and here] (nudges.org/?s=Saving+) and regulating to reduce minimum deposits and banking for fees for lower-income households. If the Japanese and European experience demonstrate one thing it's that it's much more difficult to stabilise consumption at an adequate level.

[phuckphace]

they need to do something about their population density since that drives down birth rates and might literally result in a lot of jobs being filled by sex robots

[Uniquemind]

they need to do something about their population density since that drives down birth rates and might literally result in a lot of jobs being filled by sex robots

I read that the lower birth rate is not only due to individual household financial stress but there are social expectations and behaviors of a good chunk of Japanese women that are causing men to avoid them and avoid sex.

Are the woman too entitled is it do to feminism in Japan? Does anybody know?

[Vlerchan]

they need to do something about their population density since that drives down birth rates[.]
I'm not sure if it's possible to incentivise the Japanese to resettle in less-dense rural areas. Least I can't think of solutions off-hand.

I read that the lower birth rate is not only due to individual household financial stress but there are social expectations and behaviors of a good chunk of Japanese women that are causing men to avoid them and avoid sex.

Are the woman too entitled is it do to feminism in Japan? Does anybody know?
I read that it's the case that woman are avoiding romantic entanglement with men. This is a function of:
Men not providing as secure an environment for marriage and child-rearing as once existed insofar that there prevails lower levels of job-security.
Woman are expected to do the bulk of the child-rearing and insofar as the work environment is competitive in Japan this places them in a unacceptable position as far as their job prospects are concerned.
It would need to be checked against trends of relationship formation amongst same-sex couples though as to see whether it's steeped in actual particularities of opposite-sex relationships. So far as I'm aware there's no data on this.

However I've also read that disinclination of relationship formation is quite over-estimated.

---

Capto might be able to shed some light though.

[Uniquemind]

I'm not sure if it's possible to incentivise the Japanese to resettle in less-dense rural areas. Least I can't think of solutions off-hand.


I read that it's the case that woman are avoiding romantic entanglement with men. This is a function of:
Men not providing as secure an environment for marriage and child-rearing as once existed insofar that there prevails lower levels of job-security.
Woman are expected to do the bulk of the child-rearing and insofar as the work environment is competitive in Japan this places them in a unacceptable position as far as their job prospects are concerned.
It would need to be checked against trends of relationship formation amongst same-sex couples though as to see whether it's steeped in actual particularities of opposite-sex relationships. So far as I'm aware there's no data on this.

However I've also read that disinclination of relationship formation is quite over-estimated.

---

Capto might be able to shed some light though.


It's worth continuing to find informational research both in print and on video. I saw more than a few youtubers explaining the trends behind why the birth rate is low in Japan, and from what I remember it was a mix of things.

There's both a scenario where there are expectations Japanese women have of Japanese men that are undesirable and or unrealistic (not providing enough), and that in turn Japanese men think there is a bit of a lack of respect for the stress they endure to be providers in the economic climate of Japan, only to be judged further as failures within a relationship once at home.

Then there are other strange behaviors that Japanese women do in an attempt to be "cute", that Japanese men don't think are attractive in actuality, the example the video I saw gave was "walking pidgeon-toed" in public.

I'll see if I can find some of those sources so the discussion can continue.