beer1982 wrote:
"Women are not normal when they are on their period." <- I am not a feminist but that is way too much. If men in Japan realy look at girls like this then I can understand why their birthrate is so low
Very high living costs is the reason for their low birth rate. They've been extremely overpopulated (vs livable land area and agricultural capacity) since the 1500's ..something the west did not experience until after the baby boom post WW2.
Japan is very reticent to change when it comes to male and female roles. Those are very strongly built into their culture and language. There's been big changes in the past century but the core remains. They need to find their own 'version' of women's lib..the western version simply does not work for them.
Also, their birth rate will skyrocket in the next 20 years when the bulk of their elderly population dies off. Its estimated that nearly 60% of their current population is above age 60. They only started having 1 child families as a norm in the 1970's so once that elderly population is gone, there will be a massive housing boom and prices will drop enough to allow the coming generation to be able to afford 3+ child families. It will also rejuvenate their economy.