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Reverend Cheddar posted:Cost of loving has waaaay outpaced salaries. And that's assuming one is a salaried worker at all. Has the Japanese government done anything to help? Edit: Is this something people in japan talk about? How big a deal is this to people living there?
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Mar 1, 2014 08:24
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This is a huge deal in Japan. That's why they reelected Abe, knowing drat well how nationalist he is. There are many issues involved, these are just some: - Very low salaries despite high cost of living. An entry level salary in Japan can be as low as $1800 a month and often is. And that's not even takeaway pay; that's before amounts for health insurance and pension are taken out. - The aforementioned pension system is already breaking Japan because over 1/4 of its population is retired. That's why consumption tax is being raised from 5 to 8%. That places even more burden on struggling workers (remember how much they get paid) - Child care is expensive and school costs are increasingly ridiculous (someone with kids in the system could better answer, but you gotta pay for a ton of stuff). One child is difficult enough, two is impossible for many. - Basically the only age group really doing well is the elderly cause they are already set: they have property, they have savings, and they get a regular pension even if it's not so high. Anyone below is living off credit, off their parents, or off cup noodles. Not quite everyone but a very significant amount.
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Mar 1, 2014 08:48
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Reverend Cheddar posted:Cost of loving has waaaay outpaced salaries. And that's assuming one is a salaried worker at all. I guess that's why the birth rate is declining too. 
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Mar 1, 2014 08:56
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Reverend Cheddar posted:This is a huge deal in Japan. That's why they reelected Abe, knowing drat well how nationalist he is. There are many issues involved, these are just some: What has the government tried to fix this? Do they seem like genuine attempts or just for show?
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Mar 1, 2014 08:58
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deadlypie posted:What has the government tried to fix this? Do they seem like genuine attempts or just for show? Effective or not is a different story though. edit: it doesn't do poo poo for the gender related labor problems though. Married women are still actively discouraged from working outside the home by every facet of society as far as I know. Half of their working age population is drastically under-utilized, and with the total possible workforce shrinking, they are in no position to let that continue. But they will, because Japan. Samurai Sanders fucked around with this message at 09:46 on Mar 1, 2014 |
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Mar 1, 2014 09:41
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deadlypie posted:What has the government tried to fix this? Do they seem like genuine attempts or just for show? Various attempts--some for show, some genuine. The genuine attempts are basically the ones that can be done swiftly and easily, such as ordering treasuries to print more money to stave off deflation and raising taxes. The attempts that are really just lip service are complex and have to do with pillars of Japanese society that are firmly entrenched, many of which have been talked about in the thread. One is the simple matter of Japan being an export economy and a goods importer in a country with poor resources, which alone makes it beneficial for companies to have a cheap yen so as to compete overseas. This sucks for regular people because the nature of Japanese economy means that tariffs are sky-high on many items, even regular staples; for example a single apple can cost about $2.50. Mind you it'll be quite a big apple--due to rules proscribing the exact size and color of produce to be able to sell it at all--but my point stands. Another issue is a declining workforce, because the birth rate has plummeted and the country is rapidly heading towards being majority elderly. This is where another pillar of Japanese society is being a thorn in the side of prosperity, and is the 'arrow' of Abenomics that is the true challenge to implement. This kind of thinking is hardly limited to Japan, but a hefty helping of Confucianism and  has caused women to be shut out of legitimate employment in many ways. They can and easily do get part-time jobs, but that's also because society puts heavy pressure on women being homemakers and mothers. It's a glass ceiling as thick as a tank for holding humpback whales in a Klingon cruiser. I think I read in the Nikkei Shimbun (Japan's WSJ) that the percentage of women in managerial positions is currently at an all-time high of... 4.9%. Obviously patriarchy is a huge part of this, but honestly a lot of women fully expect men to do 100% of the work and they want to be housewives, ideally in that kind of Sex and the City kind of way. (and honestly, being a working woman here myself and subject to the brutal hours and expectations of the corporate culture here, I can hardly blame them for wanting a life). There aren't a lot of career women role models, and drat near no one who manages a career and raising children at the same time. Taxation laws that are in place also force a paradigm of one breadwinner, one homemaker, and if you consider that along with schooling schedules, most outside that paradigm are well and truly hosed (also remember how I mentioned before how expensive it is to raise kids here--a single mother is largely destitute).Yet another issue is that due to the illegal and ridiculous vote disparity, certain interests are well-satiated at the expense of progress. A vote in Tottori, one of the boonies in Japan, has something like 4.7 times the value of a vote in Tokyo. So the farm lobby is huge, as well as construction lobbies and pork barrel projects. A huge amount of money is wasted on building concrete things just wherever the gently caress that no one will ever use. I'm pretty sure that this ties in to how Tohoku, nearly three years after the earthquake and tsunami, is still largely devastated and barren--other interests (cough olympics) dictate where the money goes, and it sure as hell isn't to people who actually need it. A few years ago on SA someone mentioned a rule that explained everything about Japan and made life make more sense: Japan is a country for old men by old men. Remember that and everything makes sense. 
Reverend Cheddar fucked around with this message at 10:05 on Mar 1, 2014 |
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Mar 1, 2014 10:00
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edit is not post. Argh, sorry.
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Mar 1, 2014 10:04
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The expansionary fiscal policy poo poo has been tried like every other year by every sitting prime minister and it has never worked. Things look better on paper for a bit then reality inevitably comes crashing down because there is no rise in worker wages. So yes, it's all just for show. The only meaningful part of Abenomics is the structural reforms he promised (the "third arrow") which hasn't happened at all, and has basically been put on the backburner in favor of his nationalistic right-wing endeavors.
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Mar 1, 2014 10:17
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Reverend Cheddar posted:I am sure I've commented on it before but it's basically a situation of propping up dozens of industries to not let thousands of people go bust, despite everything staring them in the face. The publishing industry has been fairly happy to go digital - the issue there is a mixture of batshit insane pricing (so digital can be up to 50% more expensive than physical) and insultingly low royalty rates on digital publishing, so that creators turn them down (the creators in the mainstream Japanese comics industry have way more rights than they do in the mainstream US industry, it's why Ken Akamatsu was able to build his free comics site) But there's also a major creative malaise - publishers will tend to only accept comics in one rigid style per magazine. That's something which has to some extent always been there, but it's far harder to tell the difference between the different stories in any given Shonen Jump or Ribbon than it was 10 or 20 years ago. You can see something similar in the animation and games industry, which is probably hitting them harder as they both decided to rely on foreign sales during the 90s - the money animation studios get from TV companies has been dropping since around then, and they decided that everything would be OK as they'd get an amazing amount of money from American sales - specifically American, the idea that the French market is larger is something they've only really noticed within the past 2 or 3 years. That failing is why you see \10,000 DVDs and the like - and neither industry seems to be able to really come to grasps with the issue that chasing the Japanese yen more or less means a product that is far more niche overseas.
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Mar 1, 2014 10:30
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April will mark the first year anniversary of the Bank of Japan/Abenomics's quantitative easing program, but a rise in the average salary, which is ultimately the key to the whole Abenomics concept, still ain't happening. I said it in this thread last May and I'll say it again: I think it's likely that Japan is going to have a currency crisis sometime in the next few years. Not only is their public debt absolutely huge compared to both the size of their economy and their yearly tax revenue, but the government has also spent twice what it's brought in for 6 years in a row, and the country's workforce is contracting faster and faster while its dependency ratio is set to do nothing but rise for years. Call me paranoid, but I've long changed the bulk of my savings out of yen. With the sales tax increase next month in mind as well, I've decided to stock up heavily on non-perishable food. Not that I expect people to ever be starving in the streets here, but if the yen tumbles, food is going to be one of the first things to spike in price. If nothing happens, I'll just eat it eventually anyway.
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Mar 1, 2014 10:43
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deadlypie posted:Has the Japanese government done anything to help? Of loving course not. They would rather fight stupid counterproductive ideological battles than do anything to help the people. I've never had a dimmer view of J politics than now. fake edit: unless the Abe admin is trying to make Japan such a pariah that citizens just circle the wagons to defend it from the threats (that they created) facing them. It possibly is a brilliant strategy to remilitarize the nation.
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Mar 1, 2014 10:45
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hadji murad posted:fake edit: unless the Abe admin is trying to make Japan such a pariah that citizens just circle the wagons to defend it from the threats (that they created) facing them. It possibly is a brilliant strategy to remilitarize the nation. edit: speak of the devil Samurai Sanders fucked around with this message at 10:49 on Mar 1, 2014 |
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Mar 1, 2014 10:46
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Zo posted:The expansionary fiscal policy poo poo has been tried like every other year by every sitting prime minister and it has never worked. Things look better on paper for a bit then reality inevitably comes crashing down because there is no rise in worker wages. So yes, it's all just for show. The real problem with Abe's third arrow is that the changes necessary for meaningful structural reform (including but by no means limited to the above-mentioned gender equality) simply cannot be achieved by government mandate alone. These are profound social shifts that are required, and in some cases reimaginings of what constitutes 'Japan' itself (I'm thinking here specifically of drastically increased immigration to supplement the dwindling working population). So the third arrow was always doomed to be a dud.
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Mar 1, 2014 13:42
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ozza posted:The real problem with Abe's third arrow is that the changes necessary for meaningful structural reform (including but by no means limited to the above-mentioned gender equality) simply cannot be achieved by government mandate alone. These are profound social shifts that are required, and in some cases reimaginings of what constitutes 'Japan' itself (I'm thinking here specifically of drastically increased immigration to supplement the dwindling working population). So the third arrow was always doomed to be a dud. What is the popular opinion on immigration? I always hear about how racist Japan is, but I haven't experienced it first hand in any way other than being patronised a bit here and there. Is there any way a conservative party can put a positive spin on looser immigration laws?
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Mar 1, 2014 14:02
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NeilPerry posted:What is the popular opinion on immigration? I always hear about how racist Japan is, but I haven't experienced it first hand in any way other than being patronised a bit here and there. Is there any way a conservative party can put a positive spin on looser immigration laws? Popular opinion seems to be - we tried immigration and it failed (re: Japanese South Americans). But note that Abe has significantly loosened visa restrictions since taking office. Though this has more to do with placating various business lobbies and their labor needs rather than an effort to increase immigration. I personally don't believe that immigration will ever be on the table, no matter how bad things get. Womacks-JP-23 fucked around with this message at 14:32 on Mar 1, 2014 |
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Mar 1, 2014 14:22
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Womacks-JP-23 posted:I personally don't believe that immigration will ever be on the table, no matter how bad things get. ROBOTS AWAY!
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Mar 1, 2014 14:38
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ozza posted:The real problem with Abe's third arrow is that the changes necessary for meaningful structural reform (including but by no means limited to the above-mentioned gender equality) simply cannot be achieved by government mandate alone. These are profound social shifts that are required, and in some cases reimaginings of what constitutes 'Japan' itself (I'm thinking here specifically of drastically increased immigration to supplement the dwindling working population). So the third arrow was always doomed to be a dud. I don't know, I don't think this is a "Abe must be a literal wizard OR the third arrow is doomed" black and white situation. I mean, of course nobody expected him to magically undo decades, centuries of established social norms. But he's proven he can push through ridiculously unpopular bills if necessary (secrecy bill anyone?). But anyway since he's not even trying, there's not too much of a point in arguing whether these fantasy government mandated reforms would be effective or not.
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Mar 1, 2014 14:43
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Unpopular to the people they can do. Unpopular to big business and the establishment, forget it.
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Mar 1, 2014 16:12
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deadlypie posted:Has the Japanese government done anything to help? Abenomics was an attempt at throwing the Keidanren a bone so they might bump wages but its been a failure because there hasn't really been any increase in consumer demand. The only groups benefiting from this action by the government have been the financial companies. Look at the stock markets, they are through the roof but there hasn't been any real bump elsewhere. Its the same in Japan as it is in most of the rest of the world. The only upside is that more companies have started hiring than in the past, but that isn't a huge change in salary really. --- On the topic of immigration. Immigration isn't the needed structural/social reform that Japan needs [right now]. The reform that Japan needs is in gender, as was mentioned. Females are not nearly as well employed as men are.
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Mar 1, 2014 20:00
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Bonuses are way up this year so take home pay is certainly going up. We won't know for another week or so if base wages are going to get a bump and sustain the increased bonuses longer-term. The major companies are doing their spring wage negotiations with the unions right now.
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Mar 2, 2014 03:04
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Womacks-JP-23 posted:Bonuses are way up this year so take home pay is certainly going up. We won't know for another week or so if base wages are going to get a bump and sustain the increased bonuses longer-term. The major companies are doing their spring wage negotiations with the unions right now. Bonuses are not base pay and not everyone gets a bonus. By old men, for old men.
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Mar 2, 2014 03:09
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Womacks-JP-23 posted:Bonuses are way up this year so take home pay is certainly going up. We won't know for another week or so if base wages are going to get a bump and sustain the increased bonuses longer-term. The major companies are doing their spring wage negotiations with the unions right now. Cite your sources for "way up". Everything I've read suggested that bonuses are barely up while real wages are down, more or less canceling out each other. Overtime went up to eke out a tiny net positive but this still ensures low base wages for the future. http://blogs.wsj.com/japanrealtime/2014/02/05/real-japanese-wages-slip-posing-challenge-to-abenomics/ quote:The data also showed that total cash earnings for workers climbed by 0.8% to Y544,836 in December compared with the same month a year earlier. But a labor ministry official said this was largely due to an increase in overtime pay, which climbed by 4.6% in December, and bonus pay, which rose by 1.4%. The pay negotiations are a joke too. The unions are asking for something like 1-2% which won't even cover the sales tax increase. http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/02/07/japan-wages-idUSL3N0LB2Z320140207 quote:The union representing over 27,400 workers at Nippon Steel asked for an average increase of 3,500 yen ($34.36), or about one percent, in the monthly base salary for unionised workers. The raise would apply for the 2014 and 2015 fiscal years. The company last raised base wages in 2000. Moreover only 17% of all companies even plan on increasing wages in the first place http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2014/01/03/business/only-17-of-japans-biggest-firms-plan-to-raise-wages So I don't know where you're getting all that positivity from but all reports I've seen lately point to a bleak reality: the significant majority of people in Japan losing purchasing power due to the sales tax and not enough pay increase to cover it. A small minority gets parity. The 0.1% continues to swim in cash.
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Mar 2, 2014 03:59
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I had missed this, but Abe's Advisory Panel on Reconstruction of the Legal Basis for Security had announced a list of five conditions for the exercise of collective self defense under Abe's proposed reinterpretation of the constitution:quote:One condition would be when a nation with close ties to Japan comes under attack. A second condition is that ignoring the matter could have a major effect on Japan's security. A third condition is that the nation under attack makes a clear request to Japan to exercise its right of collective self-defense. Then, at a press conference Shinichi Kitaoka, the chairman of the panel, gave the threat of Japan's oil supply being cut off as an example of a situation that would fulfill the second condition. As a result, when you put all these conditions it seems like if these rules were in effect in 2003, the Japanese government could have probably joined the invasion of Iraq as alleged collective self-defense based on the idea that 1) Iraq was involved in 9/11 (an attack on America!) and 2) it might affect the supply of oil. Is this really what Abe wants? While having an actual military in itself might theoretically boost Japan's reliance on the US, getting dragged into the US's military conflicts might harm Japan's chances to actually conduct diplomacy independent. Unless Abe's plan is to build up a military impossibly quickly using its relationship with the US as an excuse and then completely abandon relations with the US and buddy up with Russia or whatever. mystes fucked around with this message at 17:45 on Mar 3, 2014 |
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Mar 3, 2014 17:36
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mystes posted:the Japanese government could have probably joined the invasion of Iraq as alleged collective self-defense based on the idea that 1) Iraq was involved in 9/11 (an attack on America!)
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Mar 3, 2014 19:11
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CronoGamer posted:...really? mystes fucked around with this message at 19:46 on Mar 3, 2014 |
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Mar 3, 2014 19:43
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mystes posted:Did Bush not invoke 9/11 in his initial justification for going into Iraq in 2003? Or do you think Japan would say to the US that it couldn't engage in collective self defense because it thought the US was lying? I think CronoGamer misread your post as claiming that Iraq's alleged involvement in the WTC attack was a fact.
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Mar 3, 2014 20:10
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mystes posted:Did Bush not invoke 9/11 in his initial justification for going into Iraq in 2003? Or do you think Japan would say to the US that it couldn't engage in collective self defense because it thought the US was lying? While the administration absolutely encouraged people to link 9/11 and the invasion of Iraq I was under the impression that they had very carefully, and underhandedly, not made any direct links between the two. 9/11 was absolutely the justification for going into Afghanistan and attacking the Taliban but Iraq was about WMDs and a vague "harboring terrorists" notion. I don't think that could be used by Japan as "Iraq attacked the US". If I'm wrong about the Bush administrations justifications please by all means show me. I've just been finding it more and more incredible lately how freely people link Iraq and 9/11 when there was absolutely no link between the two. I also don't think the Japan thread is the place for a discussion like this though so if you don't want to continue it that's fine too. My point was just that, at least in a situation like Iraq, it would be hard for the Japanese to go along even with their conditions for collective self defense like that.
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Mar 3, 2014 21:31
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mystes posted:Then, at a press conference Shinichi Kitaoka, the chairman of the panel, gave the threat of Japan's oil supply being cut off as an example of a situation that would fulfill the second condition.  Gee, I can think of no historical parallels that might give people a bad feeling about this. Brilliant choice of examples.
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Mar 3, 2014 22:25
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cafel posted:
If they start arguing that a threat to the oil supply gives grounds to engage in individual self-defense, that's when it's time to start worrying. mystes fucked around with this message at 22:32 on Mar 3, 2014 |
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Mar 3, 2014 22:29
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mystes posted:That was actually my first reaction, but since this is only for collective defense (there has to be an actual attack on an ally) and it appears that all the conditions would need to be met, this probably isn't likely to lead to a repeat of WWII in itself. Oh, I'm not actually worried about anything, it's just that I found the choice of example amusing. I'm about as worried that the Japanese will reenact World War Two as I am that the Germans will.
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Mar 3, 2014 22:53
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CronoGamer posted:While the administration absolutely encouraged people to link 9/11 and the invasion of Iraq I was under the impression that they had very carefully, and underhandedly, not made any direct links between the two. 9/11 was absolutely the justification for going into Afghanistan and attacking the Taliban but Iraq was about WMDs and a vague "harboring terrorists" notion. I don't think that could be used by Japan as "Iraq attacked the US". Hopefully this won't derail the thread anymore, but the administration did directly link 9/11 with Iraq primarily by claiming that the lead hijacker Mohammed Atta met with Iraqi intelligence officials in Prague. Here's a video of Cheney (and John McCain, but let's not go down that rabbit hole here) making the claim immediately after 9/11. And for completeness, here's the Wikipedia article dedicated to debunking this particular claim.
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Mar 4, 2014 00:56
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mystes posted:
THEY ARE COMING BACK TO PEARL HARBOR.
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Mar 4, 2014 01:01
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Madd0g11 posted:THEY ARE COMING BACK TO PEARL HARBOR. Exactly what I thought too! Seems like those conditions could be used to justify just about any military deployment the government wishes.
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Mar 4, 2014 04:10
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I think the point is just give a proposed requirement (not just an attack on an ally, but also a serious effect on Japan) the Diet could include in the legislation necessary to allow the SDF to act according to Abe's shiny new constitutional interpretation if it makes them feel better. If his changes go through it will probably be a moot point anyway, because I'm pretty sure the pro-militarization people are going to make it so the SDF could go on a "peacekeeping" mission carrying lots of extra weapons just in case the situation changes, and then once someone happens to shoot at them they can go all out. Also, if the SDF is actually built up it will be really easy for the government to change their mind about the rules again anyway. Anyway, it remains to be seen if this whole reinterpretation business is actually going to be successful. Perhaps the most Abe will end up being able to do is to eliminate arms exports restrictions to ensure that Japan already has the capacity to produce weapons next time he decides to take a dump on the constitution. mystes fucked around with this message at 04:29 on Mar 4, 2014 |
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Mar 4, 2014 04:25
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Maybe the plan is to draft the retired and send them overseas.
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Mar 4, 2014 04:45
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Spazzle posted:Maybe the plan is to draft the retired and send them overseas. Yeah somehow the idea of engaging in military adventurism seems like a poor way to utilize a shrinking youth population.
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Mar 4, 2014 05:04
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Pornographic Memory posted:Yeah somehow the idea of engaging in military adventurism seems like a poor way to utilize a shrinking youth population. I dunno if any world nation is quaking in their boots at the legions of hosts, soushoku danshi and salarymen. edit: although there might be a hikikomori out there who knows how to steer a tank I guess. Sounds like I Am A Hero.
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Mar 4, 2014 05:43
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mystes posted:<snip> Perhaps the most Abe will end up being able to do is to eliminate arms exports restrictions to ensure that Japan already has the capacity to produce weapons next time he decides to take a dump on the constitution. Pretty sure this is the main goal anyways (as long as Abe is not loving nuts, which remains to be seen). Lets his business buddies start selling weapons and gets a nice export boost for the economy.
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Mar 4, 2014 05:59
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It's just loving pathetic how Japan (and Korea) are the only developed countries on this map with the worst ratings in most of those categories. Don't Japanese politicians look at that and feel something inside? Anything? Also, go Philippines, Asia's leader in gender equality.
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Mar 8, 2014 18:37
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Samurai Sanders posted:It's just loving pathetic how Japan (and Korea) are the only developed countries on this map with the worst ratings in most of those categories. Don't Japanese politicians look at that and feel something inside? Anything? Japan definitely has serious problems with gender equality, but there's a lot of important factors not being taken into account by these maps. A country with the level of rape South Africa has shouldn't qualify as green.
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Mar 8, 2014 21:09
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