Ernest Schaal wrote:

> Then there are the remarks of former Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori who is
> reported as saying;
>
> "Welfare is supposed to take care of and reward those women who have lots
of
> children. It is truly strange to say we have to use tax money to take care
> of women who don't even give birth once, who grow old living their lives
> selfishly and singing the praises of freedom."
>
> Unfortunately, this mindset, which brings into mind the thinking of sexist
> third world countries, seems to be accurately reported. Clearly, the
> Japanese have a LONG way to go before the reach maturity.

I can see that the remarks you quote offend against the politically-correct
ethos of the Western world, but to define "maturity" as being "like us" is
rather narrow-minded (not to say politically-incorrect in its own right).
One might as well say Italy is immature because of politically-incorrect
comments made by Berlusconi. No society is truly "mature", no society is
above criticism, but Japan, by most standards - and despite the naffness of
some of its political leaders - is doing extremely well.

I'm not sticking up for the comments made (especially the moronic comments
about rape you cited in an earlier posting), but Mori's comments (quoted
above) need to be taken in the context of a peculiarly Japanese phenomenon,
known as "parasite singles". The parasite singles are a supposed generation
of female pleasure-seekers, who continue to live rent-free with their
parents, spend their entire salary on "accessories" and are perceived by the
rest of society as selfish. Not for them the responsibilites of marriage and
parenthood, or even of caring for their own parents when they grow old; they
will make sure they have talked their long-suffering parents into laying
down the deposit on an apartment and will be nowhere around by the time the
old folks are in their dotage.

To what extent the parasite singles really *exist* as a social force is not
clear. However, they have a life in people's imagination that is perhaps
independent of their actual existence (or existence in large numbers). This
is because this life-style has been focused on by the media. (Compare the
media-generated impression that foreigners were a significant cause - or
even the main cause - of crime in Japan, a perception which was rampant a
few years ago.)

However, it is certainly true that people are marrying much later and the
birth rate has fallen well below the rate needed to maintain the population
level. The "aging population" is a looming crisis.

The fact that Mori seeks a traditionalist response to this crisis in modern
Japan doesn't mean that the society as a whole is unsophisticated or
"immature". People are well enough aware of the options (a sharp increase in
immigration, far greater incentives for women to bear children, etc.), and
one way or another the society will adapt itself to the new circumstances.

--
John
http://rarebooksinjapan.com