Eric Takabayashi wrote

> God man, I know women who do not even
> do housework (maybe their live in mother or mother in law does it,
> yet they have no jobs and bitch about life, the economy, or their
> husbands and their jobs.

But we were specifically talking about those who do work but take care to
keep their income below the tax threshold.

> Unless women earned their own money and made their own payments,
> they would not get benefits. The same situation breadwinner men are in.
But men
> don't have a problem with working to support themselves despite paying
taxes.
> Women should learn it too.

But what do you think would happen in reality? Do you think all the women
who are currently covered via their husband's insurance will suddenly rush
out and get work? Don't you think that many of them would simply become an
unacceptably heavy burden on their husbands who, as I say, would resent this
and bitterly oppose such a move?

> What poverty traps in Japan are you referring to?

I wasn't referring specifically to Japan. You ask for parallels, and I can
give you plenty, one being the way I've seen some people (mainly in the UK)
actually *choose* the dole over a low-paid job because working simply wasn't
worth the candle. Another parallel from the UK would be the fact that there
there is a threshold above which inheritances are liable for death duties,
and people respond by doing their damnedest to give away as much of their
money as possible before dying in order to be below the threshold and avoid
the duty.

> You'll notice Japanese level of homelessness is also
> much lower than in the US, about one tenth the population.

God, is it really as high as that in the US? That's appalling.

> > > What market are you referring to which Chinese women dominate?
> >
> > Sorry, Eric. "The game" is a longstanding euphemism for prostitution.
>
> Then foreign women are hardly dominant in that area.

Well, when I get off the train at night I have to run the gamut of up to a
dozen Chinese prostitutes just to get from the railway station to the bus
station. Your mileage may differ.

> Women will even tell me proverbs such as, the best
> husband is not at home, or tell me how happy they are that their
> husbands are not around, or the hell they have to go through with
> their sick or retired husbands. They'd be divorced if they weren't
> more worried about not getting their husbands' money.

Well, and others will tell me that they have to place their husband's
slippers just so at the entrance when he comes home, have his newspaper in
place, serve him tea or coffee at his whim and the closest he ever gets to
communicating with her is grunting, partly because he is exhausted after
another twelve-hour working day. Having sacrificed their lives to propping
up their husbands as the backbone of the Japanese economy, surely they are
entitled to health treatment and some kind of pension?

> unlike elsewhere, Japanese women are not acting for
> themselves. There have been figures fighting for women's rights
> in the US since at least the mid 19th century, putting themselves at risk,
> being harassed, mobbed, and jailed.

Well, perhaps Japanese society (and in particular its women) wants different
things, and forcing them to eat the same pie as the Sepponians simply isn't
appropriate?

> > Poor kids! Their childhood has been sacrificed on the altar of entrance
> > examinations,
>
> That's a mistake to begin with. I would do away with those. Grades and
other
> than academic achievements, such as demonstrations of leadership and
> extracurricular activity, are more important.
>
> > their future is in thrall to some corporate magnate,
>
> They should do away with that corporate structure, too. The economy is
having
> that effect. Economic instability is making millions of Japanese start to
take
> charge of themselves. Thank god.

OK, so you have a package, one that would affect every aspect of Japanese
society, not simply a one-off proposal to cut benefits for non-working women
. All you need now is to get yourself elected, or bend the ear of those in
power, and Bob's your uncle!

> > My points are as follows: (1) different societies follow
> > different roads to progress,
> > (2) holding up models that work in one society
> > is no guarantee that they will work in another society
> > and (3) these differences
> > between societies do not have anything to do with one society
> > being any more or less "mature" than any other.
>
> That is your agenda

No, it's my response to the original poster.

--
John
http://rarebooksinjapan.com