And not get molested the whole way home by some guy that thinks he's in the old boy's club. And not get fired because they're a married woman now, and need to stay home (literally normal there).

Like, people are losing interest in kids everywhere, but in the core Western countries nobody's nervous to get married because they get socially demoted in the process. That's a theme I've definitely heard from women over there, and probably why it's happening faster.

I don't mind finding work in Japan... ...if it wasn't so hostile to workers

So far, Japan is near the bottom of my list for western countries to work at, and I would much rather find a job in Korea instead

Racist, the word is racist

That's crazy talk, you'd get lot's of filthy foreigners in that way.

I read it as snark/sarcasm. Like they are adding something that already should be.

This was my reaction also. WoOoAh! Free daycare? How radical!! Haha

Capitalism is totally different from a ponzi scheme. In a ponzi scheme, the profits go up to the person at the top and you always need new people that come in, otherwise the whole thing will fall apart and the people at the bottom will be the ones that suffer. Under capitalism however, the profits of everyone's work will go up to the top and you always need new workers to come in, otherwise the system will fall apart and the people at the bottom will suffer. Totally different.

Parenthood is already desirable. There's a biological drive and social conditioning to desire it for most people. The disincentives have just become overwhelming. Children take a hell of a lot of resources. Every aspect of modern society has drained all the time, money, energy, emotional resiliance, social support, etc that people need.

Always has.

Who wants to have kids in a place where you’re expected to work 18 hours a day?

Housing in Tokyo is known for being relatively affordable, actually.

Wait until you find out it is normal to tip your landlord there

https://www.interlinkjapan.com/blog/renting/key-money

Housing is pretty affordable in Japan since housing in Japan is not an investment, it depreciates like a car (only the land has value, the house ontop of it has literally negative value since it's assumed anyone will want to bulldoze it), and their lax zoning allows for continual densification to happen.

The way I've heard it said is "if you live in a developed country, you could probably afford to move to Japan right now. If you get a job in Japan, you'll never afford to move back."

Japan's cost of living is low compared to developed nations, but their average income is also low for a developed nation.

rent is cheapish, it's everything else that will get you. if you're fine with crushing and all-permeating conformism, ridiculous degree of nationalism and misogyny, how you won't be ever accepted as one of their own as foreigner and famously toxic work culture, feel free to give it a shot