Japan General Thread - Japan-related news, happenings and thoughts

[The quiet boi]

IMO the problem with birth rates won't be solved by that.

It's as simple as educated and modern people realizing that there is no need to have dozens or even any kids, because having them costs time, effort, and money that they could be spending on themselves. Not to mention the old benefits that came from having lots of kids, like free labour for the family business/farm, and them being your future retirement fund, are less relevant these days.

This is why the stats show that populations with positive birth rates are located backwards and undeveloped shitholes with 0 women's rights, trash economies, and government retirement program of "gl hf." Meanwhile, the developed countries have billions of benefits for making kids and still struggle to raise the birth rate outside of poor and dumb parts of their populations

 

[Retarded Weeb]

So long as society is functional enough that having kids isn't completely unworkable, people will have enough kids to keep things going just because at the end of the day people are generally hardwired to want to fuck and take care of their babies. Most birth rate woes are simplu the shakers of society getting too used to the idea of perpetual population growth as a factor in making sure lines go up, and too reliant on there always being more working people than retirees so senior gibs can still function. At some point governments just need to admit that just how they can't take care of everyone's kids for them, they can't take care everyone who's too old to work.

 

[pikachudidnothingwrong]

It doesn't need to go up..(That is part of the inf growth fallacy that needs to be beaten out of our market/business/political/social/economic systems. One of the sources of all our problems to begin with.) But it needs to remain stable for society and civilization as a whole. Not just economic reasons.

This, what's going on in the first world from europe to asia, is not about growth expectations, it's about survival. Rates are well bellow sane or sustainable levels. The first world reproduction paradox. How to have first would living standards while still having children. (To get them restarted in any kind of useful way, it's going to take a lot of market parasite pain, in the form of sane wages, no slaves or outsourcing and safety nets, HELP to people and sustained infrastructure spending) We need to solve it and sooner is going to be a LOT cheaper, kinder and non-dystopian than waiting until it's crisis.

 

[ToroidalBoat]

Are the japanese even going to exist in the 22nd century?

Not in the slightest

Back in the '80s Japan was doing well. Doing so well in fact that those making Back to the Future Part 2 thought Japan would have global economic influence sometime by 2015. But instead, endless "lost decades" started in the '90s. Endless "lost generations" who struggled getting jobs. Also, there was that sarin gas attack on the trains in Tokyo.

 

[Mysterious Girlfriend X]

Back in the '80s Japan was doing well. Doing so well in fact that those making Back to the Future Part 2 thought Japan would have global economic influence sometime by 2015. But instead, endless "lost decades" started in the '90s. Endless "lost generations" who struggled getting jobs. Also, there was that sarin gas attack on the trains in Tokyo.

Japan does have global economic influence in the modern day, and has for longer than most of the people reading this have been alive.

The sarin gas attack was not a civilization-ending event.

Sorry to break your hearts, but Japan isn't doomed, despite its problems.

 

[ToroidalBoat]

vastly inferior to the west for the majority of their existence (really all of it)

At least in the '80s and maybe during Heisei they weren't doing so bad. Then Reiwa started, with coronapanic and some mass immigrations...

Back in the '80s Japan was doing well.

 

[Armor of God]

The idea that Japan is uniquely fucked in the current global economic and geopolitical environment is pretty silly.

People act like the sky is falling due to a combination of the Debt to GDP ratio/weak yen/rising inflation/rising interest rates/carry trade ending fail to realize that for large economies, it's a game where everyone is holding each other's dicks. If Japan were to magically collapse, then everyone else would be just as fucked (if not more so, which I'll get to).

The immigration trends are worrying however traitorous fucks like Iwaya are out of the way (and so is his retarded plan to give chink niggers 10 year visas). With Ministers such as the seemingly mega-based Kimi Onoda leading the charge, it appears that the requirements for naturalization will be made much more stringent. They are considering raising the residence requirement to 10 years and to have much stricter Japanese language capabilities as a must-have. This is on top of raising the requirements of the investor visa, which will require a few hundred thousand chink niggers to go back to their shit hole country.

The weak yen in this sense is a blessing in disguise because a lot of "immigrants" will want to move elsewhere due to perceptions of how much money that they'd be able to remit back to their shit holes. That, and the impending war will make these fucks move back en masse as well (basically the same shit that happened back in 2011).

Going back to the cries of economic collapse, at some point each and every country is going to collapse because we all live under this fiat currency hellscape. What does Japan have that almost no other country has ? Oh yeah, 96% homogenous Japanese populace.

When shit inevitably hits the fan, Japan is not going to have to worry about roving bands of niggers, shitskins, mudslime muzzies and vatos going around raping, pillaging and fucking shit up. Those filthy groups just don't have the numbers. Even if they tried some shit like that, they would be easily identified and dealt with.

I envy them so much because my family in the good ol' USA is going to have their hands full with trying to stave off said groups just to survive when it all goes to hell.

I remain cautiously optimistic about the Takaichi government's steps to bring Japan back to some semblance of glory.

 

[pikachudidnothingwrong]

Going back to the cries of economic collapse, at some point each and every country is going to collapse because we all live under this fiat currency hellscape. What does Japan have that almost no other country has ? Oh yeah, 96% homogenous Japanese populace.

And even that issue is vastly overblown in general by libertardians and gold hoarders etc.

 

[Rootless Cosmopolitan]

The problem isn't entitlements, that's only the effect of the main problem. The problem is demographic based. They need to kick start birth rates. Structural reforms across their society, at all levels, government, public and private are needed. They need to make working and having a private life, having a family, not just possible again but desirable. Wages, work-life balance, work ethic/mentality reset, cost of living, keeping people working, decentralizing industry and jobs from big cities and more. (Importing western ideology, feminist theory and gender politics, or half the 3rd world, certainly isn't going to help either) Quite a few of those things requiring so-called entitlements, just not focused on the old.

Libertardians have been whining for literally half a century about Japan and their refusal to fully embrace all aspects of suicide market capitalism. This kind of doom and gloom is nothing new.

The problem is entitlements. There is no country on earth that provides a social safety net, especially social pensions (social security etc), that has not seen their birth rate collapse.

Pensions have done a ton of bad things:

* make people prioritize work instead of family
* make people have fewer kids since they don’t have to worry about their kids taking care of them in old age
* make people put less effort into making their kids productive/getting them into a trade. “It’s fine if you study underwater basket weaving sweetheart, not like you’re gonna need to take care of me financially or anything!”
* **make grandparents take care of their grandkids less** <— this one is very important because it’s literally why humans live so long and it is the traditional way old people paid back their children for care.
* make people just generally treat their children like shit and not raise them with good values. Who cares if your kids love you when you’re old if you don’t have to rely on them.

I have come to the depressing conclusion, after years of deliberation, that the root cause of a lot of society’s problems is…. Pensions

I don’t like this because I too would love a pension. Pensions make the future less scary. But it turns out fear is a helluva motivator.

 

[pikachudidnothingwrong]

There is a lot of noise when looking into that kind of data. A lot of things happening all at the same time. I'd argue it has a lot more to do with the end of viable single income households, brought on by the very types of unregulated market forces that caused much of the other issues. As well social issues both because of and resulting in a feedback loop.. a spiral down really. People choosing work over families etc etc. Even when they could afford it. Unrestrained parasitic market forces were really able to go insane.. go full retard in the last 2/3rds of a century to century. Even dominating social discourse on such issues.

In the end though.. "Get lucky or starve" isn't going to fix birth rates any more than simply paying people would. And probably make it worse. Pensions specifically have a lot of issues when they aren't handled realistically and used haphazardly. Unwinding the current system would be even more difficult. It really is a complicated issue all around. Anyone claiming a simple or pain-free fix is likely talking out their ass. Or have monstrous intent. (i.e. "let people starve" kind of shit etc)

 

[Expand Value]

Has takaichi started deportations yet? If so to what scale?

 

[Steve Pinto]

snap elections on february. i hate this

takaichi thinks her approval rating will translate into more votes but there just isn't that much potential votes left for her to convert. i think a some from the right will consolidate but so far basically nothing has happened to win back anyone else. i don't think it will be easy to win back majority this early in

so far, we have seen:
* accelerating inflation
* pointless china provocation that ended up being a complete diplomatic embarrassment (did not receive the expected backing from trump, the USA would rather sell japan out than commit)
* historic lows for the yen
* 18 trillion budget, highest ever
* -2% real wages
* rice vouchers
* has not demonstrated a willingness to actually do anything or fix problems that are easily solvable like closing land investment loopholes or unfuck the wildly unpopular invoice system that is killing small business

it's all so tiresome

 

[pikachudidnothingwrong]

* pointless china provocation that ended up being a complete diplomatic embarrassment (did not receive the expected backing from trump, the USA would rather sell japan out than commit)


it's all so tiresome

This has been one of the lowest and most shameful points of this Trump admin. The NATO shit is bad but this!! They seem to be trying to form some kind of sphere of influence bullshit and selling out the rest of the world, esp asia, in the process. This is absolute full retard.

 

[Waffle Iron]

I have come to the depressing conclusion, after years of deliberation, that the root cause of a lot of society’s problems is…. Pensions

You see a birth rate decline everywhere, even in African shitholes with little social security. You also see that couples still tend to get children. The problem is that the coupling rate has gone down hard.

This has been one of the lowest and most shameful points of this Trump admin. The NATO shit is bad but this!!

It's completely retarded. A few years ago they were talking about a pivot to the east. That makes sense, Europe isn't terribly interesting any more. But throwing Japan under the bus makes zero sense.

 

[Steve Pinto]

The recent turn of events regarding Trump dropping tariffs on Chinese semiconductors to fucking zero has been a complete shock for Japanese foreign policy experts. The sudden weakening of commitment to defending Taiwan in the last half year after years of anti-chinese bluster is a complete betrayal to the US aligned asian nations.

There is no hope for the long term survival of Japan under the US sphere of influence as long as Trump is president. The US-Japan relationship has always been subservient and unequal, but nobody imagined a nightmare scenario where China would pay less US tariff than Japan. Japanese sentiment towards orange man have shifted from careful optimism to a slow realization that he is actually just retarded and everything he does is just blatant stock manipulation for short term profit.

The decades long project to develop contingency fabs in Hokkaido will be completely fucked by Trumps schizophrenic Asia policy. People here are just praying that there is a limit to the amount of damage he can do to the Japanese economy before his term is over.

2026 will be the year Japanese will seriously consider learning mandarin Chinese instead of English.

 

[Steve Pinto]

https://www.asahi.com/articles/ASV1G3VCBV1GUQIP021M.html

Komeito has found a new host to attach itself to: the largest opposition party CDP. It was bound to happen but it must be disturbing for many members of the opposition who have spent the last couple decades blasting the ruling party for cooperating with depraved cultists. The opposition needs all the seats they can get, but it can't be good for their image to do this. This is extremely alienating for the huge chunk of undecided voters who hate the LDP and Komeito equally.

The expulsion of Komeito is really the primary benefit of Takaichi winning. It's hard to overstate how much of a cancer these cult lunatics were when they were part of the ruling coalition. Not only is Soka Gakkai a evil cult, but it is also a blatant fifth column that always pushes for demilitarization and deindustrialization.

Edit for context:

LDP: ruling party, platform is to make sure nothing ever happens. Was dependent on Komeito for coalition since the 90s. Post ideological and fractured by factionalism but united under the desire to stay in power for as long as possible.

Komeito: look up Soka Gakkai. This is their party. this is like as if Scientologists had a voting bloc that made up 15% of the Republican Party but had the most dogshit terrible political platform centered around infinite gibs. Also their version of L Ron Hubbard is a pro-chinese mob boss who claims to be God

CDP: Characterized as "center left" but in practice, not really that much different from LDP but represents a plurality of the opposition. Politically diverse ranging from leftists to LDP rejects. Leveled criticism against the LDP for corruption, but has no problems cooperating with the corrupt politicians they criticized last week. They are technically the largest party of the opposition, but they don't have that much sway over anyone else and have trouble being taken seriously.

 

[ZsaZsaBinks]

The Japanese language is known as Nihongo. There are three scripts that Nihongo is written in. Hiragana is for native words, Kanji is for words borrowed from Chinese, and Katakana is for foreign words.
Hiragana alphabet:

Katakana alphabet:

I could not find an alphabet chart for kanji, as it is comprised of characters. There is no definite count of kanji characters. This is how to write “kanji” in kanji: 漢字

Latin script is known as rōmaji, or “Roman letters”.

 

[Armor of God]

The recent turn of events regarding Trump dropping tariffs on Chinese semiconductors to fucking zero has been a complete shock for Japanese foreign policy experts. The sudden weakening of commitment to defending Taiwan in the last half year after years of anti-chinese bluster is a complete betrayal to the US aligned asian nations.

There is no hope for the long term survival of Japan under the US sphere of influence as long as Trump is president. The US-Japan relationship has always been subservient and unequal, but nobody imagined a nightmare scenario where China would pay less US tariff than Japan. Japanese sentiment towards orange man have shifted from careful optimism to a slow realization that he is actually just retarded and everything he does is just blatant stock manipulation for short term profit.

This is an incomplete picture of what is really happening with tariffs. The US government has announced 25% tariffs on any country that does business with Iran. China is one of Iran's largest trading partners, accounting for 80% of the oil purchases coming out of the country.

The US is also set to pass another bill that would impose up to 500% tariffs on any country buying Russian oil. Nearly 20% of China's oil imports come from Russia.

Also, further tariffs on semiconductor and critical minerals from China are absolutely still on the table:

President Donald Trump on Wednesday the 14th signed two executive orders to impose tariffs on some semiconductors and prepare for tariffs on critical minerals, if needed.

The semiconductor order codifies what Trump said in December when he implied that Nvidia would pay the U.S. 25% of H200 chip sales to China.

The tariffs in the order apply to chips imported to the U.S. that aren’t used domestically for artificial intelligence purposes but are then exported to another country, a practice called transshipping. Such chips, which include the Nvidia H200 chip and Advanced Micro Devices MI325X chip, would be subject to a 25% tariff.

The 25% tariff applies to a “very narrow category of semiconductors that are an important element of my Administration’s AI and technology policies,” according to the order.

But the White House left a broader tariff on the table. “After trade negotiations have concluded — the Secretary recommended broader tariffs on semiconductors, at a rate of duty that is significant,” the order reads.

So we have tariffs on semiconductors and minerals that are very much either in place or in play. Regardless, with the Iran and Russia tariffs, those figures far outweigh any action on just semiconductors.

Compared to all of that, Japan is doing just fine.

There is no hope for the long term survival of Japan under the US sphere of influence as long as Trump is president. The US-Japan relationship has always been subservient and unequal, but nobody imagined a nightmare scenario where China would pay less US tariff than Japan. Japanese sentiment towards orange man have shifted from careful optimism to a slow realization that he is actually just retarded and everything he does is just blatant stock manipulation for short term profit.

The decades long project to develop contingency fabs in Hokkaido will be completely fucked by Trumps schizophrenic Asia policy. People here are just praying that there is a limit to the amount of damage he can do to the Japanese economy before his term is over.

2026 will be the year Japanese will seriously consider learning mandarin Chinese instead of English.

If you think that the Japanese people have any good sentiments towards China, then you haven't actually spoken to Japanese people or know anything about the country. The negative view on China has skyrocketed in recent years, especially given the weak Yen and the horrible behavior of china nigger tourists in Japan.

There is much greater awareness of the evils of chinese niggers and their shithole country among Japanese people (especially younger people) than ever before. You would know this if you actually kept up with what is happening. Taiwan is the only country in East Asia that Japanese people feel sympathy and something of a kinship with. Everyone else can get fucked as far as these people are concerned.

The US and China will go to war and everything that is happening geopolitically is pushing all of the major players in that direction. The election of Takaichi, the rise of movements such as Sanseito, the dissolution of parties who have been a ball and chain on the more hawkish LDP leaders, the nigh expulsion of pro-China fucktards like Ishiba, Iwaya and Kishida...these are all connected to the coming conflict.

Komeito has found a new host to attach itself to: the largest opposition party CDP. It was bound to happen but it must be disturbing for many members of the opposition who have spent the last couple decades blasting the ruling party for cooperating with depraved cultists. The opposition needs all the seats they can get, but it can't be good for their image to do this. This is extremely alienating for the huge chunk of undecided voters who hate the LDP and Komeito equally.

The expulsion of Komeito is really the primary benefit of Takaichi winning. It's hard to overstate how much of a cancer these cult lunatics were when they were part of the ruling coalition. Not only is Soka Gakkai a evil cult, but it is also a blatant fifth column that always pushes for demilitarization and deindustrialization.

Komeito and CDP are forming a new party apparently and as far as I'm concerned, they're fucked. Their members hate each other and would have to walk back all of their positions to make it work. Komeito has always been a thorn in the side of the LDP right-wingers who have been trying to re-write Article 9 (which they absolutely should, on top of arming themselves with nukes).

Komeito any shred of relevance that they had when their first action was to meet with the fucking Chinese embassy before unilaterally dissolving their alliance with the LDP. That showed you who pulls the strings for those fags (and have been since the beginning as Ikeda was famously pro-China and had direct access to the highest levels of the CCP).

It'll be fun watching these faggots tear each other apart on some e-celeb shit during Gamergate.

I'll write a longer post about the inevitable conflict that is nearly upon us in the near future.

 

[More AWS-8Q Than You]

The US and China will go to war and everything that is happening geopolitically is pushing all of the major players in that direction.

This is what the all the stuff with Venezuela and Iran is about, cutting off China from easy oil. I read something on X about China trying to get oil from Canada, although I don't know from what port, since Vancouver can't handle it. It would also justify America being more active in addressing the Canadian Question. China has seen conflict with America as inevitable for decades, I'm assuming the Trump admin sees it as likely and is actively taking steps to make it as difficult as possible for China. And if China bitches too much openly, they reveal their hand.

Or did people think the US just letting the Japanese have carriers again was meaningless? I know they're not officially that, but we all know.

 

[Romeo]

Sanseito​

takaichi thinks her approval rating will translate into more votes but there just isn't that much potential votes left for her to convert.

Komeito and CDP are forming a new party apparently and as far as I'm concerned, they're fucked. Their members hate each other and would have to walk back all of their positions to make it work. Komeito has always been a thorn in the side of the LDP right-wingers who have been trying to re-write Article 9 (which they absolutely should, on top of arming themselves with nukes).

Now, there is an even bigger thorn to the LDP: Sanseito. Sanseito has been taking advantage of the snap election by going with this campaign schtick "vote for Sanseito to support Takaichi to get her anti-immigration platform through" and a lot of voters are believing it.


Archive

It worked so well that Sanseito recently seized the governorship from the LDP in the LDP stronghold of Fukui Prefecture on the 27 January gubernatorial election.

The Asahi Shimbun - Sanseito boosted by Fukui victory ahead of Lower House election​

By AMANE SUGAWARA/ Staff Writer | January 27, 2026 at 17:32 JST | Link | Archive

This private information is unavailable to guests due to policies enforced by third-parties.

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Kimi Onoda​

With Ministers such as the seemingly mega-based Kimi Onoda leading the charge, it appears that the requirements for naturalization will be made much more stringent.

Kimi Onoda on behalf of the Takaichi administration recently made a video where although Japan will have a strong anti-illegal immigration and naturalization policy, Japan will still import foreign workers due to the so-called "labor shortage," pissing off Japanese people who wanted a halt to all immigration policy and a commencement of mass-scale deportations.

YouTube | Archive

Here is the translation. The bolded parts are what pissed people off.

With that in mind, the comprehensive set of measures we have compiled this time is intended to bring “order” to foreign national policy. In order to ensure the safety and peace of mind of the public, we have incorporated a wide range of policies, including issues that we have been unable to address until now. We will squarely confront the anxieties and sense of unfairness felt by the public, and deal strictly with illegal acts by foreign nationals and violations of rules.

To that end, for example, we have included the strong promotion of a “Zero Illegal Overstayers Plan,” the tightening of residence screening, and measures to prevent nonpayment of taxes and social insurance premiums. At the same time, our basic approach is that foreign nationals, as long as they reside in Japan, are expected to act responsibly as members of Japanese society.

First, regarding the Specified Skilled Worker and Training and Employment programs, which are measures to address labor shortages, it is essential above all that each industry make efforts to improve productivity and secure domestic human resources. After rigorously examining such efforts, we will strictly set the expected number of accepted workers and reduce it compared to previous levels. This projected number does not mean that this many people will immediately enter Japan; it includes those already residing here, and it is set strictly as an upper limit.

In addition, the residence statuses covered by this projected number do not allow holders to bring family members, have limits on the period of stay, and do not lead directly to permanent residence in Japan. I would like to emphasize this point once again.

On the other hand, for those residing in Japan under statuses that can lead to permanent residence, we will also tighten the screening for permanent residence permits and naturalization. In reviewing residence status applications, we will thoroughly verify whether social insurance premiums are properly paid and whether taxes are being paid. Screening for naturalization and permanent residence status will likewise be made more stringent.

In addition, this set of measures includes responses to overtourism and consideration of rules regarding land acquisition by foreign nationals. By listening carefully to the various voices of the public, we have incorporated a comprehensive response package, and we will work steadily to implement it.

And some reactions (Archive):

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​	​	​	​

Kimi Onoda and the LDP's greatest rivals isn't from parties from the left-wing and centre, it's from right-wing parties that go nuclear against them attacking that they are not based enough, the most notorious of them being the Conservative Party of Japan, another hardliner right-wing party aside from Sanseito, who attacks Onoda's commitment to a strong anti-immigration policy as non-genuine (akin to the Japanese version of Meloni, who has proven to be utterly useless in Italy).

Recently, the Conservative Party of Japan has been spreading the idea that Onoda is supportive of importing 600,000 foreign laborers to support Japanese industries (Archive). Onoda has constantly defended herself against the accusations, and there is truth that Onoda never really said this and that the idea being spread is overly-exaggerated to be a lie where Onoda clarifies that there are jobs that are not taken by Japanese people but only foreign workers and Japanese immigration policy need to revolve around this fact. Nevertheless, that number is the amount of migrants the LDP as a whole intends to import in a year over two years, totaling 1.23 million foreign laborers (which I believe includes foreign laborers in Japan currently according to Onoda in the video), under Takaichi's administration as part of the "Special Skills" program (Archive). Even if Onoda has not indicated her support of this, her affiliation with the LDP has led to calls by right-wing rivals that Onoda is to not be trusted. The harassment against Onoda was so great that she started heavily blocking accounts belonging to supporters and members of the Conservative Party (Archive).

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Conclusion​

It's a really interesting dilemma for Takaichi, Onoda, and the LDP: you have Sanseito that states that they needed to be voted in to support Takaichi's anti-migration agenda and then you have the Conservative Party of Japan that states that the LDP will backstab its voters and mass import labor. Even if Onoda and Takaichi are genuine in their wants to deport migrants, their associations to the LDP machine (and its want to import migrants) will ultimately stab them in the back as barely a lot of Japanese folks trust the LDP even though they approve of Takaichi highly.

I ultimately think the snap election will backfire on Takaichi and Onoda due to the bad taste Japanese people still have of the LDP and looking for more right-wing alternatives like Sanseito and the Conservative Party.