Many young Japanese professionals are leaving Japan and find much better paid jobs and better working conditions abroad. Australia is one of those Countries where Japanese nurses getting almost 3 times the salary they have received in their own Country plus receiving PAID overtime and less working hours. Japanese politicians should wake up to the fact that they may lose much of the already shrinking workforce to other economies.
There is a young married Japanese couple in my small hometown here in Sweden. They left because of the lack of jobs were they lived and moved to find opportunities elsewhere and finally ended up here. Both are highly skilled Sushi chefs and run a small restaurant here. Me and my GF have built up a friendship with them. We eat there once per week and it's truly delicious.
It was pretty much the same coming out of the 2008 recession for the next decade. I graduated my Bachelor's in 2013, sent about 400 job applications, received about one or two interviews and no job offers from that, went back to Uni to do a Master's, graduated from that in 2015, sent about another 400 applications and only then found a job in 2016. What's more, this was in Aerospace Engineering, one of the roles in higher demand, in the U.K., where there is supposedly a shortage of Aerospace Engineers. Also yes, while I was looking I was basically a hikikomori that never went outside, can't be otherwise when buried in student debt with no income.
Came across an aerospace engineer studying his masters a few years back. The guy was working as a barista in his spare time, and told me that when he’s finished with his degree he would like to open his own cafe… I suppose there just aren’t that many jobs available in the field of advanced technologies, and people are increasingly focusing on practical matters at hand these days.
Same here. Graduated in 2010 as a marine engineer. Worked as a part-time employer and as a freelancer so I could get some work experience in engineering and as an electrician. After 13 years of sending out job applications to all craft and industrial companies in my country, I have now given up looking.
This is now happening to the USA. I know because I am one. I paid off my car and cell phone in 2021. Worked through 2022 building my savings to a comfortable level where I could subsist for 2 years with no work. I live at home at 36 with my parents. I do event staffing, but it is sporadic. It pays very well so I can top off my savings. I will not work another underpaying shit job ever again. Now my focus is healing, learning and taking care of my elderly parents. They need help with house cleaning and technology.
I disagree. I think the US is in the Best position. The problem is that the US reather than invest in domestic worker. Keep importing them, Indian and Chinese for high skills and latin american for low skill. This is China in 2023. China will go though this right now. I notice that in the 1980s the US was competetive but less. Now days is just toxic, if you get a B+ in high school you lose a scholarship. I think the US should cut down on imigration, free trade with China helped cause a big problem deindustrialization, but the rust belt was declining a little before the open up China in 1970, China industrialization just speed up something that would eventually happened, but industry probably would go to China, the deep south and maybe Mexico, and China just made the situation it worst, and I think. The number of internation students should be limited. Trade and professonal schools just be free. And the government should give scholarship for intelligent american people to study stem or medicine, is better than to keep importing workers from third world, no american voted for this. It just the political system is corrupt. If you think about it chinese students, most of them, is studing at ivy league because their perants had corrupt connection with the CCP and many help cause the problem that the rust belt are facing, I am not being racist against chineses or asians, I just think they should not be rewarded for this, limting international admition will still make some people from china or india to come but will help more american citizens. Propably the best internatinional student will still come, but I notice many univesities and collages are having majority foreign student, they are the cash cow.
awesome bro, keep at it! haha we must be of the same generation because i have a very similar situation and mindset; after all the shit in life keep your finances on tight leash, support your loved ones, and for the rest stabilize and heal from the shit in life. All the best out there, and i wish good health to your parents!
See the book Pure Invention by Matt Alt - it talks about how Japan reached “the future” ahead of the rest of the world in many different areas, and now we’re starting to catch up/become more like Japan. We can see it now, how after the recession many of the social phenomenon seen in the post bubble japan are now more common in the US. It’s also why anime made in the post bubble years resonated so strongly with young people in the US in the early 2000s.
I graduated from medical school in Japan but now i live in the USA with my Afro/Japanese veteran husband and i’m a pediatrician. My parents are happy i live in the USA and they love my husband because of his maturity and he co-owns a veteran own and run private security company. I proud to come from Japan and been educated in Japan but i’m also happy i live in America on acres of land and enjoy a beautiful land.
@@marvin9409 “NO” i like the freedom and space i have in the USA i never expected at my age to have acres of land and open sky not obscured by skyscrapers
@MayumiC-chan9377 oh wow haha. I was just asking, because I recently saw a comment of an australian man who married a japanese woman. The woman studied in Japan and I think worked in the finance sector. She hated it but as she didn't know about any working conditions elsewhere, she just endured it. When she worked for a year in Australia tho, she told her husband she'd never in her lifetime work for a japanese company again 😂 I just found your comment funny because it reminded me of it and I wanted to know, if it's really THAT bad. Unfortunately I think that's true. Wish you all the best and greetings from Germany 👋
To be fair, that is pretty much the normal millennial experience. 2008 was a bubble pop on a global level, and we still feel the repercussions. In the economy, the culture and our personal lives. The real shame is that nothing was learned from the Japanese example.
Japan is so tough on the people. That part gets lost in the conversation, when we talk about macroeconomic events and balance sheet recessions. I lived for a long time in Japan, Viet Nam and Thailand. And the happiest Japanese people I met were living their life, or running a small business, in Viet Nam or Thailand.
I discovered your channel today. I grew up in America in the 90s consuming Japanese products and culture, mostly through Nintendo, and I find it supremely interesting to "look at the other side of the mirror," so to speak. I look forward to your future posts.
Same. It’s absolutely fascinating to me. I’ve always been fascinated with Japan since I was a kid growing up with dragonball, Nintendo, etc. excellent content on this channel
Good/ fascinating art is often created during hard times so it kinda makes sense tbh. The economic crisis is probably the reason why Anime started exploring deeper topics during that time. Artists are less worried about things being profitable or consumer friendly because the profits aren't going to come in the first place...
@@h0eera.115 That's an excellent point. I think of Japanese nihilism exuded in their art, like Neon Genesis Evangelion or Berserk, where the protagonists has to find some deeper existential purpose in order to deal with the overwhelming evil that they have to contend with. To inspire a generation of Japanese youth, when no hope remains.
@@h0eera.115 When one looks at the Japanese Frontsoft Games like the Souls series or Elden Ring, you'd also get the feeling that the games represent Japan. The world once had its heyday but now it is slowly and surely falling into ruin. Like what Japan is now. But what is the resolution? To win the game, your character ends up burning down everything, killing the god that held up the order in the hopes of a new but lasting order taking its place. And it seems as if Japan is in that situation now.
But how can it truly have one of the lowest unemployment rates if there are millions of Hikikomori? The government is anticipating a huge problem for who will care for them and rehabilitate them after their parents die.
They are suffering from mental health problems that dont get solved These kind of problems should be prevented rather than corrected but nobody really cares to do either
The reality of mental health stigma in Japanese culture is really quite amazing in scope. Many of the people could be recovered from these three states of despair, as you call them, with adequate therapy and psychiatric intervention. The problem there is Japan's dwarf mental health sector as government funding continues to fail to materialize combined with a private sector that's disinterested due to perceived culturally based indifference and, therefore, natural lack of expected demand.
I honestly had no idea Japan could’ve ever suffered a recession like this let alone a time when their tech was kicking the US’s ass nearly every month. The US is still suffering a lost generation for those unlucky enough to have graduated college after 2009, they couldn’t find jobs without experience, and even low paying entry-level jobs required 20+ years of experience to even apply to.
Japan is about 30 years ahead of much of the world. In China the bubbles that have been inflated is easily the biggest in the history, far greater than even the 80's excesses in Japan, and adding to that it's got a population that's very rapidly aging. In the US things are better but not that much because we've had big bubbles in asset prices in the past decade too.
Thank you for your insights. I just discovered your channel. Leaving Japan in early 1970’s, I rediscovered Japan last decade with internet. It has puzzled me that since I lost touch with Japan, about 40years has passed, yet some aspects of the Japanese society has not moved or worse moved backward. I am now retired and living on my pension. In a way I am glad to have left, though I am missing old Japan a lot.
It must be bad. in the USA, there are the people who came of adult age at or around 2008. It was bad. I somehow managed to grow up poor, came of age right in time for the sharp depression around 1980-81 in the US, then was just hitting my stride when 2008 wiped me out. I make about 1/5 what I did, and do not hope to make any more than that, ever. Learn to live without money to as much as extent as you can, and game-ify saving money, become a low-key survivalist.
One big achievwment of this lost generatiom is soccer. Prior to 1990, japan was not considered a power soccer nation even in asia. Today, it is one of the best top 30 in the world.
While the lost generation had its impact, I'd argue that Japan's rise in football can be more closely attributed to the Yuutori generation (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yutori_education). With their increased free time and less pressure towards traditional corporate roles, many delved into their passions, such as gaming and sports. This shift in focus might've nurtured Japan's football talents and spurred their excellence on the field
And this is one of the primes causes of the declining birth rate, many people from this generation never had sex or relationships, thus less children being born, worsening the problem.
The bubble burst in Japan was worse than the American recession. But that's when I came of age, right at the beginning. Somehow, a lot of us young adults during the recession made it out by the relative security of the mid-2010's. But many of us didn't. I'm also disabled in a very ableist country. I have been shut out from society because I can't get proper accommodations. Now I'm a recluse. Would not be surprised if I'm the poorest person to comment on this channel. Real stuff.
It's interesting to me to observe the parallels between what's been happening in Japan and what's currently happening here in the US. The flight toward cities for economic opportunity is well known here in the US, where labor economists have often joked that the best economic growth plan for languishing rural areas is to buy poor people a bus ticket to the city. But the issue is so pronounced in Japan that there are modern ghost towns where the issue reached its zenith quite a long time ago and remains a going concern as young people go away to university and never return. Similarly, millennials in the US were young when the dot-com bubble burst and were young adults during the subprime real estate mess of 2008. Many young people were told the game plan for prosperity was simply to go to college and pursue something you love because "you'd never work a day in your life." That seems like sound advice from a generation reaping the final rewards of the Marshall Plan after WW2 and the slow decline of soviet bloc, but it's also prophetic in that they weren't working disproportionately little to the outsized benefit they were realizing in the form of booming 401k balances and massive growth in their home equity.
could it be that "japanese budhism" is a very niche study? I think that is partly a reason why the lady did not get a job after her postdoc? academia is never very kind to most of its employees but it is especially hard for niche studies and I think that is understandable.
Same could be said about my British generation who can’t find jobs anywhere other than low pay dirt picker jobs. We have a similar situation to those basement dweller guys.
I don't know if the video doesn't make justice to what problem it was trying to portray, but taking the main example from 4:23, this is not something particular to Japan, to that generation or to that person. If you study a career that produces no value and decide to "work" at a University, you must be aware that there are many other people salivating over those juicy grants and easy work. Later at 6:50 the success of SoftBank, an investment company that focused (IIRC) in technology, the problem becomes even more trivial. Basically, if you work in technology, in a position that generates value, you are ok. If you went for soft careers in positions that don't generate value, life was hard. Like it is in every economy that doesn't have excess of circulating capital. Just look at Silicon Valley today and the thousands of people losing their jobs because free investment money ran out and companies now actually have to produce value if they want to survive. What did I miss?
In the US it's even more brutal as American parents kick their children out of the house by age 18 to fend for themselves. It's "everyone for themself" and "all against all" and "fuck you, I've got mine" in the USA. It is very rare for American parents to help their children past age 18, and often they stop helping (as in housing, feeding etc.) their kids long before then. So on American message board you very often hear Americans saying they were working since age 16 or age 14 etc. - this is for real and means they were working to feed themselves and their family; by that age they were on their own.)
I’ve heard the US be compared to a dementia patient that constantly thinks it’s still in the 1950s when it barely understands or even remembers that era and what made it so prosperous. Yet they insist on still living in the rotting husk of an era that’s long dead and probably never coming back.
@@Colddirector it may be more common for people to kick out their kids when they are 18, but it is more and more common for people to live with their parents. So I think the attitudes you try to convey aren’t quite correct in your usage of them as completely common or pervasive. (Also, I have never known of parents basically abandoning their kids in the United States. Maybe I am insulated from this by family middle class income mostly.)
A very good video, but it raises the question of whether it is a good idea for a society to encourage people to pursue education. This seems to me to be poor judgement. This may seem harsh, but the lady PhD you referred to was as much a victim of her own life choices as anything else. She chose to pursue a qualification which was always going to limit her career options, even in a booming economy. Had she chosen to qualify in a more desirable area (electronics, for example), I suspect that the outcome of her life would have been different. Why did she choose the field that she did? I suspect that it was Japan's apparent obsession with education at all costs. If education is expected to be its own reward, you are less likely to be concerned about the subject you are studying. If nothing else, this obsession with education leads to a miss-allocation of resources. We see the same thing here in the UK. Young people are encouraged to enter tertiary education, no matter how unsuited they are or how impractical the subject which they are studying.
It's hard to change that since most of the decent jobs require people to hold a degree. The researcher used in the example is a tragic case, but is not a proper view on the job market. People taking engineering and business courses also have it tough hunting for proper jobs. There are even people who put up with being in "black companies" cause it's hard to find another job once you lose one. There are just as many cases of suicide from people that have jobs. Admittedly this issue is slowly being healed in recent years and isn't as harsh before. There is also a subset of people who have jobs that aren't reliant on degrees which was mentioned in the video which were the "furiita"/freelancers, the ones that take part time or other low end jobs.
@@mrs.potatohead8471 Vocational education is useful. My point was that education for its own sake is the problem. Appropriate education leads to social mobility. Untargetted education just leads to misallocation of resources - which ultimately makes everyone poorer.
People should be free to educate themselves in whatever subject they want People aren’t supposed to be wage slaves whose lives are only valued through economics The rigid view on what is and isn’t valuable is not the future
@@dj_koen1265 people are indeed free to choose to pursue education or not and which subject(s) they wish to study. However, they must own the consequences of their choices.
I sincerely hope that future historians see these paradigmatic changes for the traumatic events that they are. The 80's bubble in Japan, the 90's IMF crisis in Korea and the rest of East Asia, the Great Recession of the 10's in the U.S. and Europe, COVID in China (and certainly the rest of the world). I'm genuinely afraid that these are all events that in economics we call hysteresis: events of such cataclysmic proportions that their multifaceted negative effects far outlast their causes. Capitalism is the root cause of three of these, and conservatism's inability to deal with human nature is present in all of them. This is evident in declining birthrates in all these (and many other) countries. It's not important that birthrates are declining; it's ultimately important that so many people don't find life worthwhile enough to create new life. What a tragic situation.
I think it’s less that they don’t think life is worth passing on, more that they simply can’t afford to have children. I mean they *could* afford it but not without giving themselves and their child a significantly worse standard of living, and nobody in their right mind would do that just to contribute to some vague sense of economic or demographic preservation.
@@Colddirector Not even. Everyone I've spoken to that didn't want children, simply said it's because they do not want kids. It's less about money, and more about the doom and gloom that people keep pushing. If you have kids today, they will not grow up struggling to breathe because the fucking plants are dying off. Kentucky will not be beach front property. They will live the same, boring, trivial life that you did, and your parents did. And since OP wants to pretend to be an economist, they'd understand that basic economics states that Individuals will do whatever benefits them the most, particularly if there is an incentive. However, the politicians have twisted this, and tell people their children will grow up in a hellscape, with no clean air, water, fresh food, etc. Which is a load of horse shit, but they seem to have taken some pointers from the nazis, because they keep repeating the same lie they've been telling for the last fifty years, and finally a bunch of idiots have latched onto it. The truth is, most people are not going to be rich, and most people are not going to land some job paying six figures. That shouldn't stop them from having children. In fact, if people lack meaning in life, they should absolutely have children, because that is literally our ONLY reason to exist. To pass on our genes to the next generation. Living isn't as expensive as people make it out to be, people have been doing it in Appalachia for generations. If you have to eat four day old soup, that's just the way it has to be. it' s not any worse for you than fast food is. However, it is important that you at least work enough to pay the bills, and provide the bare necessities. Before I went back to college, I was living extremely comfortably, and could pay all my bills, and buy over $1000 worth of groceries a month. I paid $1000 for rent, drove and hour to work every day, and had a brand new iPhone. I live in Appalachia. My Job required zero experience.(though I had it.) Fucking Toyota pays double what I was making, to stand at an assembly line all day. If you want kids, get to work, and make it happen.
I don't see how any of you can make these arguments if people in horrible poverty in Africa and India manage to have kids, and most of them can afford growing up
@@mrDjuroman You're not wrong, but it's an observable trend across every country--including India, which even at its relatively low level of development and income, has fallen just below the population of replacement level of total fertility rate of 2.1. As countries become richer, they have fewer children, very consistently. It's pretty simple, really; people compare themselves to those closest to them in determining their subjective quality of living. It's harder for most people to compare their quality of life to people thousands of kilometers away than their next-door neighbors, and even as inequality between countries has shrunken these past few decades, it's worsened within many. This is one of the major issues that capitalist development models seems at least to dramatically worsen. Even if it's difficult to directly establish causation, the inequality such development creates is a problem, too. Unsurprisingly, inequality is a pretty significant correlative with low fertility rates. This is visible in the U.S., where birthrates are really only being buoyed by fairly high rates of immigration, and higher rates of reproduction among recent immigrants, too. For all the complaining conservatives do about immigration, America's fairly high rates of immigration are all that's keeping it from eventual population decline.
3:19 this is certainly a thing in the US. When the economy is bad, people who can do so, go back to school for a degree or a more advanced degree, in the hope that when they are done, the economy will be better and it will have been a good investment.
sometimes when things and life are so good after years and years of hardwork, you tend to get stuck at one height, maybe bcs of your ignorance, or bcs you're afraid of any new changes could shatter all your effort, or maybe you're just arrogant and grown senile. sadly this is far too often for japanese old gen that's still in power in the 90s or now. i know it's only one of many reasons and it may not be justified to blame it heavily on one part, but the effect from it are just colossal to ignore.
Japan, the country of the most educated and the highest IQ people in the world. “Education: the path from cocky ignorance to miserable uncertainty.” ― Mark Twain
Just stumbled across your channel, very insightful and thoughtful commentary on japanese related business stuff. Really like it, esecially the long form video on the countries recession. Look foward to your next videos, kupo!
I had a Japanese waiter once that served me. He dropped a small piece of food from the plate on the table. He was so apologetic and then pulled out a sword and stabbed him self. Medics were rushed in, but couldn’t save him. Great service.
Do you have any good books about this topic? I have found some books but most of them are written by people outside of Japan. I would love to find some books about this subject and the Bubble-collapse. (especially if they are told from the first person)
I’ll recommend this book to pretty much everyone who has a remote interest in Japanese pop culture, but Pure Invention by Matt Alt. It’s not a book about the bubble per se, but it does speak about how the echoes of the bubble years have influenced the rest of the world via the creators who came out of it, like Hideaki Anno (Evangelion) and others.
You might also enjoy Tokyo Junkie by Robert Whiting. An autobiography of an American military officer who first came to Tokyo in the 1960s and has lived there since. It was published in 2021 so it covers how Tokyo has changed over the past 60 years through the eyes of an outsider who lived it.
What I understand the economic downturn of Japan that last over thirty years is partly due to Mainland China, who starting to export deflation after 89-64 incident to recover its economy (i.e cheap product due to cheap labour) and go worsen after entry into WTO since 2001. Year 2019 should be remembered in worldwide history as it draws attention of CCP's real interest (plus no intention to honor contract/treaty that it signed into WTO and UK of Hong Kong hand-over).
Society 1.0 - Hunting Society Society 2.0 - Agrarian Society Society 3.0 - Industrial Society Society 4.0 - Information Society Society 5.0 - Super Smart Society - Current one. Society 6.0 - Wise Society Society 6.0 - Wise Society Smart is a word used to emphasize that someone is intelligent. Wise, on the other hand, is used to emphasize that someone has experience, knowledge, and good judgment. Cabinet Office Japan - Society 5.0
It's egregious what modern western economic instability life has done to millions of it's citizens, in countries all over. One, to varying degrees, can only withstand so much and last so long.
Help me decode Japan's economy - one newsletter at a time. Subscribe for free at www.konichivalue.com/! You're the wind beneath my financial wings. Thanks!
With the increased educational levels of women in advanced countries many men can't find a partner. Japan is not alone in the problems of the technological age. They would fare better if they were open to immigration. Here in Australia immigration has enriched the country both culturally and financially. As in the uk Canada and the USA the median age is higher too. Just a few thoughts... needs an essay in response to this sad video 😢
Higher education in university doesn’t equal to higher skills wanted by industries. This is the common misconception adopted by mass media and your video. Does a master degree in gender studies useful in commerce? In Germany, vocational skills command similar pay to college degree. Likewise, a plumber earns more than many adjunct professors because their skills are valued higher by the market.
"😭 I hope People who worked so hard get what they deserved.. Please dont stop learning because of this.. .. Wondering if the generation is still alive.. Don't worry Japans future gonna improve a lot. I don't care about flying cars.. But spiritually, mentally. N getting wat we need food to eat, clothes to wear n roof for shelther is more then enough + sm more free food trees 🌲🌳🌴 for homeless or those who need food.. Enough food plants to feed the population. Enough money to save for future needs ... World see highly of Japan..in all levels.. .. Countries with Too much skyscrapers hv had enough of exploitation of earths ... It needs to balance now.. .. Good luck n best future for Japan, a role model country for the 🌎.. Thanks for putting out the issues to the world.. Lots of love to Japan 🇯🇵 . From 🇮🇳 🌸🌺🌻🌹🌷🌼💐"- from space 🌌
Disliked due to bs ending. There is no hope, period. The generation is screwed and they have every right to be angry and give up. When you are in a rigged game, it is better to just quit.
"I really want to go to Japan.. People r so good. Like angels. Land of angels.. Devil just trying to wage war against Japan . God's the way!!! He gonna save u.. "- nothing is impossible with God connect! Hard works will paid off it can never b lost.. Either by the same people or by offspring..
Many young Japanese professionals are leaving Japan and find much better paid jobs and better working conditions abroad. Australia is one of those Countries where Japanese nurses getting almost 3 times the salary they have received in their own Country plus receiving PAID overtime and less working hours. Japanese politicians should wake up to the fact that they may lose much of the already shrinking workforce to other economies.
TBH, Australia has stupid good money compared to any other country. As a Brit who spent 2 years there, the money Aussies earn is *per week* is silly.
Yeah i had a pen pal there they live like high class in australia but i wouldnt be able to handle their creepy crawlies
There is a young married Japanese couple in my small hometown here in Sweden. They left because of the lack of jobs were they lived and moved to find opportunities elsewhere and finally ended up here. Both are highly skilled Sushi chefs and run a small restaurant here. Me and my GF have built up a friendship with them. We eat there once per week and it's truly delicious.
@@mariotaz our cost of living is also bloody eye watering, so its not exactly like we're sitting pretty
@@moltencor8610 Are you Australian?
It was pretty much the same coming out of the 2008 recession for the next decade. I graduated my Bachelor's in 2013, sent about 400 job applications, received about one or two interviews and no job offers from that, went back to Uni to do a Master's, graduated from that in 2015, sent about another 400 applications and only then found a job in 2016. What's more, this was in Aerospace Engineering, one of the roles in higher demand, in the U.K., where there is supposedly a shortage of Aerospace Engineers. Also yes, while I was looking I was basically a hikikomori that never went outside, can't be otherwise when buried in student debt with no income.
Came across an aerospace engineer studying his masters a few years back. The guy was working as a barista in his spare time, and told me that when he’s finished with his degree he would like to open his own cafe… I suppose there just aren’t that many jobs available in the field of advanced technologies, and people are increasingly focusing on practical matters at hand these days.
Same here.
Graduated in 2010 as a marine engineer. Worked as a part-time employer and as a freelancer so I could get some work experience in engineering and as an electrician.
After 13 years of sending out job applications to all craft and industrial companies in my country, I have now given up looking.
Fascinating, insightful, and terrifying to see how entirely destabilizing financial crisis can be even decades later
The capitalists love this shit. They make the 99% lose everything and they buy it up for pennies on the dollar.
RIP Dr Nishimura. Her elderly Dad sleeps in the room she used to live in, consumed by grief. Rest well, you are at peace Dr Ryo.
How do you know that they're not even Christian
@ninab.4540 you must be the life of the party
This is now happening to the USA. I know because I am one. I paid off my car and cell phone in 2021. Worked through 2022 building my savings to a comfortable level where I could subsist for 2 years with no work. I live at home at 36 with my parents. I do event staffing, but it is sporadic. It pays very well so I can top off my savings. I will not work another underpaying shit job ever again. Now my focus is healing, learning and taking care of my elderly parents. They need help with house cleaning and technology.
I disagree. I think the US is in the Best position. The problem is that the US reather than invest in domestic worker. Keep importing them, Indian and Chinese for high skills and latin american for low skill. This is China in 2023. China will go though this right now. I notice that in the 1980s the US was competetive but less. Now days is just toxic, if you get a B+ in high school you lose a scholarship. I think the US should cut down on imigration, free trade with China helped cause a big problem deindustrialization, but the rust belt was declining a little before the open up China in 1970, China industrialization just speed up something that would eventually happened, but industry probably would go to China, the deep south and maybe Mexico, and China just made the situation it worst, and I think. The number of internation students should be limited. Trade and professonal schools just be free. And the government should give scholarship for intelligent american people to study stem or medicine, is better than to keep importing workers from third world, no american voted for this. It just the political system is corrupt. If you think about it chinese students, most of them, is studing at ivy league because their perants had corrupt connection with the CCP and many help cause the problem that the rust belt are facing, I am not being racist against chineses or asians, I just think they should not be rewarded for this, limting international admition will still make some people from china or india to come but will help more american citizens. Propably the best internatinional student will still come, but I notice many univesities and collages are having majority foreign student, they are the cash cow.
@@derek4412 Play the vidya
awesome bro, keep at it! haha we must be of the same generation because i have a very similar situation and mindset; after all the shit in life keep your finances on tight leash, support your loved ones, and for the rest stabilize and heal from the shit in life.
All the best out there, and i wish good health to your parents!
See the book Pure Invention by Matt Alt - it talks about how Japan reached “the future” ahead of the rest of the world in many different areas, and now we’re starting to catch up/become more like Japan. We can see it now, how after the recession many of the social phenomenon seen in the post bubble japan are now more common in the US. It’s also why anime made in the post bubble years resonated so strongly with young people in the US in the early 2000s.
Devils attack to good people.
I graduated from medical school in Japan but now i live in the USA with my Afro/Japanese veteran husband and i’m a pediatrician.
My parents are happy i live in the USA and they love my husband because of his maturity and he co-owns a veteran own and run private security company. I proud to come from Japan and been educated in Japan but i’m also happy i live in America on acres of land and enjoy a beautiful land.
Congratulations ! Would you ever consider going back to Japan for work ?
@@marvin9409 “NO” i like the freedom and space i have in the USA i never expected at my age to have acres of land and open sky not obscured by skyscrapers
@MayumiC-chan9377 oh wow haha. I was just asking, because I recently saw a comment of an australian man who married a japanese woman. The woman studied in Japan and I think worked in the finance sector. She hated it but as she didn't know about any working conditions elsewhere, she just endured it. When she worked for a year in Australia tho, she told her husband she'd never in her lifetime work for a japanese company again 😂 I just found your comment funny because it reminded me of it and I wanted to know, if it's really THAT bad. Unfortunately I think that's true. Wish you all the best and greetings from Germany 👋
@@marvin9409 my husband introduced me to a hobby i never thought i would be part of
my husband taught me to hunt and it’s so much fun
To be fair, that is pretty much the normal millennial experience.
2008 was a bubble pop on a global level, and we still feel the repercussions. In the economy, the culture and our personal lives.
The real shame is that nothing was learned from the Japanese example.
Exactly. This is hardly a Japanese only issue anymore
Ok but he is talking about what happened in Japan
Move to another city.
Japan is so tough on the people. That part gets lost in the conversation, when we talk about macroeconomic events and balance sheet recessions. I lived for a long time in Japan, Viet Nam and Thailand. And the happiest Japanese people I met were living their life, or running a small business, in Viet Nam or Thailand.
I discovered your channel today. I grew up in America in the 90s consuming Japanese products and culture, mostly through Nintendo, and I find it supremely interesting to "look at the other side of the mirror," so to speak. I look forward to your future posts.
Probably through Sony and Toshiba and even more stuff we don’t even realize
Same. It’s absolutely fascinating to me. I’ve always been fascinated with Japan since I was a kid growing up with dragonball, Nintendo, etc. excellent content on this channel
Good/ fascinating art is often created during hard times so it kinda makes sense tbh. The economic crisis is probably the reason why Anime started exploring deeper topics during that time.
Artists are less worried about things being profitable or consumer friendly because the profits aren't going to come in the first place...
@@h0eera.115 That's an excellent point. I think of Japanese nihilism exuded in their art, like Neon Genesis Evangelion or Berserk, where the protagonists has to find some deeper existential purpose in order to deal with the overwhelming evil that they have to contend with. To inspire a generation of Japanese youth, when no hope remains.
@@h0eera.115 When one looks at the Japanese Frontsoft Games like the Souls series or Elden Ring, you'd also get the feeling that the games represent Japan.
The world once had its heyday but now it is slowly and surely falling into ruin. Like what Japan is now. But what is the resolution?
To win the game, your character ends up burning down everything, killing the god that held up the order in the hopes of a new but lasting order taking its place. And it seems as if Japan is in that situation now.
But how can it truly have one of the lowest unemployment rates if there are millions of Hikikomori? The government is anticipating a huge problem for who will care for them and rehabilitate them after their parents die.
They are suffering from mental health problems that dont get solved
These kind of problems should be prevented rather than corrected but nobody really cares to do either
The reality of mental health stigma in Japanese culture is really quite amazing in scope. Many of the people could be recovered from these three states of despair, as you call them, with adequate therapy and psychiatric intervention. The problem there is Japan's dwarf mental health sector as government funding continues to fail to materialize combined with a private sector that's disinterested due to perceived culturally based indifference and, therefore, natural lack of expected demand.
thank you for the video. Dr. Rei Nishimura's story was particularly sad and her's is just one of the many. Hope her soul rest in piece.
I honestly had no idea Japan could’ve ever suffered a recession like this let alone a time when their tech was kicking the US’s ass nearly every month. The US is still suffering a lost generation for those unlucky enough to have graduated college after 2009, they couldn’t find jobs without experience, and even low paying entry-level jobs required 20+ years of experience to even apply to.
Japan is about 30 years ahead of much of the world. In China the bubbles that have been inflated is easily the biggest in the history, far greater than even the 80's excesses in Japan, and adding to that it's got a population that's very rapidly aging. In the US things are better but not that much because we've had big bubbles in asset prices in the past decade too.
Thank you for your insights. I just discovered your channel. Leaving Japan in early 1970’s, I rediscovered Japan last decade with internet. It has puzzled me that since I lost touch with Japan, about 40years has passed, yet some aspects of the Japanese society has not moved or worse moved backward. I am now retired and living on my pension. In a way I am glad to have left, though I am missing old Japan a lot.
Another Great Video
It must be bad. in the USA, there are the people who came of adult age at or around 2008. It was bad. I somehow managed to grow up poor, came of age right in time for the sharp depression around 1980-81 in the US, then was just hitting my stride when 2008 wiped me out. I make about 1/5 what I did, and do not hope to make any more than that, ever. Learn to live without money to as much as extent as you can, and game-ify saving money, become a low-key survivalist.
Also helps to have a prepper mindset. Buy a little extra and squirrel away food, money, whatever you think you might need for a rainy day.
i saw this video and subscribed right away. Keep up the good work.
One big achievwment of this lost generatiom is soccer. Prior to 1990, japan was not considered a power soccer nation even in asia. Today, it is one of the best top 30 in the world.
While the lost generation had its impact, I'd argue that Japan's rise in football can be more closely attributed to the Yuutori generation (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yutori_education). With their increased free time and less pressure towards traditional corporate roles, many delved into their passions, such as gaming and sports. This shift in focus might've nurtured Japan's football talents and spurred their excellence on the field
Great episode
Another banger of a video mate! Keep it up!!!
And this is one of the primes causes of the declining birth rate, many people from this generation never had sex or relationships, thus less children being born, worsening the problem.
Great Video! Thank you!
Thank you so much for sharing.
I've seen this in the US, it's not only a japan thing
The bubble burst in Japan was worse than the American recession. But that's when I came of age, right at the beginning. Somehow, a lot of us young adults during the recession made it out by the relative security of the mid-2010's. But many of us didn't. I'm also disabled in a very ableist country. I have been shut out from society because I can't get proper accommodations. Now I'm a recluse. Would not be surprised if I'm the poorest person to comment on this channel. Real stuff.
"ableist"
Maybe you wouldn't be so miserable if you learned proper skills instead of garbage words like that lol
私が20代の頃、日本はバブル期でした。みんなオシャレで街中がイキイキとしていました。現在の日本を見ると元気がなくオシャレな人は少なくなりました。
It's interesting to me to observe the parallels between what's been happening in Japan and what's currently happening here in the US. The flight toward cities for economic opportunity is well known here in the US, where labor economists have often joked that the best economic growth plan for languishing rural areas is to buy poor people a bus ticket to the city. But the issue is so pronounced in Japan that there are modern ghost towns where the issue reached its zenith quite a long time ago and remains a going concern as young people go away to university and never return. Similarly, millennials in the US were young when the dot-com bubble burst and were young adults during the subprime real estate mess of 2008. Many young people were told the game plan for prosperity was simply to go to college and pursue something you love because "you'd never work a day in your life." That seems like sound advice from a generation reaping the final rewards of the Marshall Plan after WW2 and the slow decline of soviet bloc, but it's also prophetic in that they weren't working disproportionately little to the outsized benefit they were realizing in the form of booming 401k balances and massive growth in their home equity.
extremely underrated channel
could it be that "japanese budhism" is a very niche study? I think that is partly a reason why the lady did not get a job after her postdoc? academia is never very kind to most of its employees but it is especially hard for niche studies and I think that is understandable.
Same could be said about my British generation who can’t find jobs anywhere other than low pay dirt picker jobs. We have a similar situation to those basement dweller guys.
You should make more of these videos.
I don't know if the video doesn't make justice to what problem it was trying to portray, but taking the main example from 4:23, this is not something particular to Japan, to that generation or to that person. If you study a career that produces no value and decide to "work" at a University, you must be aware that there are many other people salivating over those juicy grants and easy work. Later at 6:50 the success of SoftBank, an investment company that focused (IIRC) in technology, the problem becomes even more trivial. Basically, if you work in technology, in a position that generates value, you are ok. If you went for soft careers in positions that don't generate value, life was hard. Like it is in every economy that doesn't have excess of circulating capital. Just look at Silicon Valley today and the thousands of people losing their jobs because free investment money ran out and companies now actually have to produce value if they want to survive. What did I miss?
In the US it's even more brutal as American parents kick their children out of the house by age 18 to fend for themselves. It's "everyone for themself" and "all against all" and "fuck you, I've got mine" in the USA. It is very rare for American parents to help their children past age 18, and often they stop helping (as in housing, feeding etc.) their kids long before then. So on American message board you very often hear Americans saying they were working since age 16 or age 14 etc. - this is for real and means they were working to feed themselves and their family; by that age they were on their own.)
I’ve heard the US be compared to a dementia patient that constantly thinks it’s still in the 1950s when it barely understands or even remembers that era and what made it so prosperous.
Yet they insist on still living in the rotting husk of an era that’s long dead and probably never coming back.
@@Colddirector it may be more common for people to kick out their kids when they are 18, but it is more and more common for people to live with their parents. So I think the attitudes you try to convey aren’t quite correct in your usage of them as completely common or pervasive.
(Also, I have never known of parents basically abandoning their kids in the United States. Maybe I am insulated from this by family middle class income mostly.)
Why are there so many observational videos on TH-cam about Japan?
A very good video, but it raises the question of whether it is a good idea for a society to encourage people to pursue education. This seems to me to be poor judgement.
This may seem harsh, but the lady PhD you referred to was as much a victim of her own life choices as anything else. She chose to pursue a qualification which was always going to limit her career options, even in a booming economy.
Had she chosen to qualify in a more desirable area (electronics, for example), I suspect that the outcome of her life would have been different.
Why did she choose the field that she did? I suspect that it was Japan's apparent obsession with education at all costs. If education is expected to be its own reward, you are less likely to be concerned about the subject you are studying.
If nothing else, this obsession with education leads to a miss-allocation of resources. We see the same thing here in the UK. Young people are encouraged to enter tertiary education, no matter how unsuited they are or how impractical the subject which they are studying.
It's hard to change that since most of the decent jobs require people to hold a degree.
The researcher used in the example is a tragic case, but is not a proper view on the job market. People taking engineering and business courses also have it tough hunting for proper jobs. There are even people who put up with being in "black companies" cause it's hard to find another job once you lose one. There are just as many cases of suicide from people that have jobs. Admittedly this issue is slowly being healed in recent years and isn't as harsh before.
There is also a subset of people who have jobs that aren't reliant on degrees which was mentioned in the video which were the "furiita"/freelancers, the ones that take part time or other low end jobs.
What would you say it a good alternative to the push for higher education? Education has always been key for social mobility.
@@mrs.potatohead8471 Vocational education is useful. My point was that education for its own sake is the problem.
Appropriate education leads to social mobility. Untargetted education just leads to misallocation of resources - which ultimately makes everyone poorer.
People should be free to educate themselves in whatever subject they want
People aren’t supposed to be wage slaves whose lives are only valued through economics
The rigid view on what is and isn’t valuable is not the future
@@dj_koen1265 people are indeed free to choose to pursue education or not and which subject(s) they wish to study.
However, they must own the consequences of their choices.
I sincerely hope that future historians see these paradigmatic changes for the traumatic events that they are. The 80's bubble in Japan, the 90's IMF crisis in Korea and the rest of East Asia, the Great Recession of the 10's in the U.S. and Europe, COVID in China (and certainly the rest of the world). I'm genuinely afraid that these are all events that in economics we call hysteresis: events of such cataclysmic proportions that their multifaceted negative effects far outlast their causes. Capitalism is the root cause of three of these, and conservatism's inability to deal with human nature is present in all of them. This is evident in declining birthrates in all these (and many other) countries. It's not important that birthrates are declining; it's ultimately important that so many people don't find life worthwhile enough to create new life. What a tragic situation.
I think it’s less that they don’t think life is worth passing on, more that they simply can’t afford to have children.
I mean they *could* afford it but not without giving themselves and their child a significantly worse standard of living, and nobody in their right mind would do that just to contribute to some vague sense of economic or demographic preservation.
23 looking to graduate, no job/experience.
Not planning on procreating any time soon. Heck I’m not even willing to date
@@Colddirector Not even. Everyone I've spoken to that didn't want children, simply said it's because they do not want kids. It's less about money, and more about the doom and gloom that people keep pushing. If you have kids today, they will not grow up struggling to breathe because the fucking plants are dying off. Kentucky will not be beach front property. They will live the same, boring, trivial life that you did, and your parents did.
And since OP wants to pretend to be an economist, they'd understand that basic economics states that Individuals will do whatever benefits them the most, particularly if there is an incentive. However, the politicians have twisted this, and tell people their children will grow up in a hellscape, with no clean air, water, fresh food, etc. Which is a load of horse shit, but they seem to have taken some pointers from the nazis, because they keep repeating the same lie they've been telling for the last fifty years, and finally a bunch of idiots have latched onto it.
The truth is, most people are not going to be rich, and most people are not going to land some job paying six figures. That shouldn't stop them from having children. In fact, if people lack meaning in life, they should absolutely have children, because that is literally our ONLY reason to exist. To pass on our genes to the next generation. Living isn't as expensive as people make it out to be, people have been doing it in Appalachia for generations. If you have to eat four day old soup, that's just the way it has to be. it' s not any worse for you than fast food is. However, it is important that you at least work enough to pay the bills, and provide the bare necessities.
Before I went back to college, I was living extremely comfortably, and could pay all my bills, and buy over $1000 worth of groceries a month. I paid $1000 for rent, drove and hour to work every day, and had a brand new iPhone. I live in Appalachia. My Job required zero experience.(though I had it.) Fucking Toyota pays double what I was making, to stand at an assembly line all day.
If you want kids, get to work, and make it happen.
I don't see how any of you can make these arguments if people in horrible poverty in Africa and India manage to have kids, and most of them can afford growing up
@@mrDjuroman You're not wrong, but it's an observable trend across every country--including India, which even at its relatively low level of development and income, has fallen just below the population of replacement level of total fertility rate of 2.1. As countries become richer, they have fewer children, very consistently.
It's pretty simple, really; people compare themselves to those closest to them in determining their subjective quality of living. It's harder for most people to compare their quality of life to people thousands of kilometers away than their next-door neighbors, and even as inequality between countries has shrunken these past few decades, it's worsened within many. This is one of the major issues that capitalist development models seems at least to dramatically worsen. Even if it's difficult to directly establish causation, the inequality such development creates is a problem, too.
Unsurprisingly, inequality is a pretty significant correlative with low fertility rates. This is visible in the U.S., where birthrates are really only being buoyed by fairly high rates of immigration, and higher rates of reproduction among recent immigrants, too. For all the complaining conservatives do about immigration, America's fairly high rates of immigration are all that's keeping it from eventual population decline.
welcome in europe 2023
What's the name of the Japanese animation film segments in this TH-cam? Is it on dvd to buy?
3:19 this is certainly a thing in the US. When the economy is bad, people who can do so, go back to school for a degree or a more advanced degree, in the hope that when they are done, the economy will be better and it will have been a good investment.
sometimes when things and life are so good after years and years of hardwork, you tend to get stuck at one height, maybe bcs of your ignorance, or bcs you're afraid of any new changes could shatter all your effort, or maybe you're just arrogant and grown senile. sadly this is far too often for japanese old gen that's still in power in the 90s or now.
i know it's only one of many reasons and it may not be justified to blame it heavily on one part, but the effect from it are just colossal to ignore.
Intro are banger!
Japan, the country of the most educated and the highest IQ people in the world.
“Education: the path from cocky ignorance to miserable uncertainty.”
― Mark Twain
Just stumbled across your channel, very insightful and thoughtful commentary on japanese related business stuff. Really like it, esecially the long form video on the countries recession. Look foward to your next videos, kupo!
Why was Melbourne Australia, used as stock footage?
Looked too close to London 😅
I had a Japanese waiter once that served me. He dropped a small piece of food from the plate on the table. He was so apologetic and then pulled out a sword and stabbed him self. Medics were rushed in, but couldn’t save him. Great service.
Man wtf is wrong with you 😂
Nice attempt at dark humor.
You're doing an amazing job with your videos. And this one is another example of your work.
Thank you for this video (too).
Old people/generation killed Japan and its future.
Japan first; the rest of the world will follow soon enough
South Korea and China are catching up
Nah my country will probably just get another coup before another Lost Decade
Post covid gen should be look into as well.
which makoto shinkai film was that? 2:43
A generation is 30 years and we are 79 years from the end of the war.
How are you supposed to be hopeful with no children in your society.
Do you have any good books about this topic? I have found some books but most of them are written by people outside of Japan. I would love to find some books about this subject and the Bubble-collapse. (especially if they are told from the first person)
I’ll recommend this book to pretty much everyone who has a remote interest in Japanese pop culture, but Pure Invention by Matt Alt. It’s not a book about the bubble per se, but it does speak about how the echoes of the bubble years have influenced the rest of the world via the creators who came out of it, like Hideaki Anno (Evangelion) and others.
You might also enjoy Tokyo Junkie by Robert Whiting. An autobiography of an American military officer who first came to Tokyo in the 1960s and has lived there since. It was published in 2021 so it covers how Tokyo has changed over the past 60 years through the eyes of an outsider who lived it.
What are fritas? Never heard that one before
I believe he said “freeters” :)
Chinese youth are next. Sad to say. That story about the graduate lady is very tragic.
Nah the Chinese government got that covered.
As much Bubble content as possible please
Guess it aint so bad i dunno why people worry so much, guy in video said everything good so i believe.
The working culture need changes for japan to move forward
This is a terrible situation, and is geting worst and its partially global.
What I understand the economic downturn of Japan that last over thirty years is partly due to Mainland China, who starting to export deflation after 89-64 incident to recover its economy (i.e cheap product due to cheap labour) and go worsen after entry into WTO since 2001. Year 2019 should be remembered in worldwide history as it draws attention of CCP's real interest (plus no intention to honor contract/treaty that it signed into WTO and UK of Hong Kong hand-over).
Society 1.0 - Hunting Society
Society 2.0 - Agrarian Society
Society 3.0 - Industrial Society
Society 4.0 - Information Society
Society 5.0 - Super Smart Society - Current one.
Society 6.0 - Wise Society
Society 6.0 - Wise Society
Smart is a word used to emphasize that someone is intelligent.
Wise, on the other hand, is used to emphasize that someone has experience, knowledge, and good judgment.
Cabinet Office Japan - Society 5.0
sad~~
It's egregious what modern western economic instability life has done to millions of it's citizens, in countries all over. One, to varying degrees, can only withstand so much and last so long.
It’s a garbage economical system
Help me decode Japan's economy - one newsletter at a time. Subscribe for free at www.konichivalue.com/! You're the wind beneath my financial wings. Thanks!
With the increased educational levels of women in advanced countries many men can't find a partner. Japan is not alone in the problems of the technological age. They would fare better if they were open to immigration. Here in Australia immigration has enriched the country both culturally and financially. As in the uk Canada and the USA the median age is higher too. Just a few thoughts... needs an essay in response to this sad video 😢
Foretelling what is to come in USA.
Rascal modi same in india now😢
how is japans unemployment rate evidence of many lost generation people finding fulfilling careers...?
Higher education in university doesn’t equal to higher skills wanted by industries. This is the common misconception adopted by mass media and your video. Does a master degree in gender studies useful in commerce? In Germany, vocational skills command similar pay to college degree. Likewise, a plumber earns more than many adjunct professors because their skills are valued higher by the market.
shouldn't more educated/ skilled japanese migrate out to the world instead of trapped in their sorry lifestyle in japan?
So… that is the fate we are facing?
I think we are at this stage in the USA...
Im hoping this takes over the US. I love extreme isolation
Least regarded nihilist:
"😭 I hope People who worked so hard get what they deserved.. Please dont stop learning because of this.. ..
Wondering if the generation is still alive.. Don't worry Japans future gonna improve a lot. I don't care about flying cars.. But spiritually, mentally. N getting wat we need food to eat, clothes to wear n roof for shelther is more then enough + sm more free food trees 🌲🌳🌴 for homeless or those who need food.. Enough food plants to feed the population. Enough money to save for future needs ... World see highly of Japan..in all levels.. .. Countries with Too much skyscrapers hv had enough of exploitation of earths ... It needs to balance now.. .. Good luck n best future for Japan, a role model country for the 🌎..
Thanks for putting out the issues to the world.. Lots of love to Japan 🇯🇵 . From 🇮🇳 🌸🌺🌻🌹🌷🌼💐"- from space 🌌
They could’ve went to some other country to work
And what about the military
Japan is in still in a debt bubble. +258%
Gambadeh 🙏
It like the USA in the 1930s
Let’s hope they don’t decide a good ol fashioned war is what’s needed to kick the economy back into shape
Jesus Christ replaced Adam the First Man concerning authority and dominion.
Vô thường - ngã là gốc của vạn vật..& vượt qua " Đại khủng hoảng thì mình có ngày Đại đế...mạnh mẽ & tồn tại như Abraham
Let's be real - not only in japan - the whole western world was thriving - then GenXers arrived after the party to clean up the mess.
I wonder what that leaves millenials and Gen Zs
same as 08 crisis generation in the west
Disliked due to bs ending. There is no hope, period. The generation is screwed and they have every right to be angry and give up. When you are in a rigged game, it is better to just quit.
Nihilism is an L
"I really want to go to Japan.. People r so good. Like angels. Land of angels.. Devil just trying to wage war against Japan . God's the way!!! He gonna save u.. "- nothing is impossible with God connect! Hard works will paid off it can never b lost.. Either by the same people or by offspring..
often = aa·fn
Sounds like the USA today
The japanese can work in McDonald and earn RM100,000++ a year. they are really really rich. the lost generation are just complaining too much hehe
I doubt Japan will recover
This channel barely explains about who the blame of all this.
Who would you blame?
:o
oh boohoo at least you have low crime try living in the USA
Bro
lol 7:22 pretty sure that's melbourne and not japan
Happening all other countries also I believe 🥹🥹🥹