1. Celibacy syndrome 2. Kids are expensive 3. Work stress (long hours, workaholism) 4. Career-oriented women 5. Social attitudes towards women 6. The fantasy world of Japanese men

6 reasons: work, work, work, work, work, and work.

Normal People: Work to Live Japanese People: Live to Work

Japan’s solution in population decline is calling working mothers “devil wives”. Boy, this is quite counterintuitive;)

I lived and worked in Japan for 18 years, so none of this surprises me. I pity the people, who I strongly felt were perhaps the loneliest in the world.

I’m a foreigner raising 2 kids in Japan. Raising kids is not expensive here at all unless you prefer private schools and be wealthy. Medical service is just $2 per visit a doctor + medicine or even having a surgery and so on, until they turn 16. Public schools are good enough and free. Food? How much do kids eat? I believe people more and more prefer not to take the parenting responsibility and enjoy the life 😣

Same reason as in Europe. This problem is by no means unique to Japan.

They must work less. If you work 17 hours a day you can't possibly have anything but sleep on your mind. Pitty for six a great nation.

We should be born to find our own freedom, interests, and pursue of happiness with love, peace and caring for others of course. Overwork is not healthy at all.

Well the video explains it pretty well. Being overworked and overstressed would discourage me from wanting to marry and have children. I can sympathise with the Japanese women also. If I was one of them I would choose to be single and unburdened with a marriage. The fact that there suicide rate is one of the highest in the world is not surprising. Being a typical corporate slave in Japan wouldnt inspire me to want to live a long life either.

30-40 years ago someone my age might've been able to have a job with a salary that paid enough to afford my own place. I'm almost 30 with a college degree and almost all my friends who also have degrees are still living at home with their parents. We hate it but consider it better than living on the street. Not to mention it's been proven the world over that women with higher education are putting off marriage longer, if they're bothering to get married at all. The stress of being a full time wife/mother/career woman just doesn't seem worth it, so those of us who manage to find stable work would definitely rather stay single. This seems to be a global issue that isn't unique to just Japan. How can we even think about bringing babies into the world when we're barely getting by ourselves?

Just like the honey bee, they all being overworked.

No point having kids in this horrible world anymore.

The more civilized and educated the people are, the more they realize that a lot of people actually mean nothing. A reasonable amount of people but not too much mean much better life.

AS A HUMAN BEING, I REALLY THINK THAT WE ALL NEED TO LEARN TO RELAX AND WORK IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION.

I would never ever have made it in Japan. Never.

I also wouldnt like to have babies there But nice place as a tourist!

The Japanese are smart. Why bother procreating when society expects you to be a workhorse, many commodities are expensive, there is no work life balance because of the hyper-competitiveness in nearly all aspects of life. South Korea, China, Australia, Europe, America are no better. These ostensibly "successful" societies are pressure cookers. Japan ranks third in life expectancy? I thought they rank first for both men and women. And which country ranks first and second? Burundi and the democratic Republic of Congo?

And what do you think is happening in the United States? Kids graduating high school in New Jersey could possibly get married and move in to a starter home or small apartment 30 years ago. In 2019 With home prices ranging from one half to one million dollars where are young people going to move into? The majority of young people have to spend years in college after high school, then they are often saddled with unpayable debt and and are relugated to staying in their parents home with little opportunity to get married and have kids. Viably affordable housing for middle class and lower income working families is rapidly diminishing in all major urban areas of the United States. On top of that increasingly higher taxation rates on existing housing properties are driving retired parents out of their homes. Lack of affordable housing, rising property taxes, lack of unionized jobs with health and pension benefits, rising student debt, and increasing automation in the workplace is not a recipe for effecting societal conditions conducive to having children.

I'm Japanese and this is accurate.And please don't remind me that my country is falling

"one thing these digital girlfriends can't offer: sex and babies" Actually, it's only babies now. Japan is kind of pioneering sex robots too.

Idiocracy is becoming a look into our future.

Japanese culture is amazing, but their bushido-like corporate work ethic needs to change drastically. If Japan wants to lessen the herbivore men, the country needs to give the men more time away from the office and the incentive to go after the ladies.

The cost of raising kids in Japan is 30,000,000 yen till age 18. According to a conversation with a hospital physical therapist i had about 2 months ago.

People in my country: I don't have money (have 4 children and will have more)

Not sex for a month? Here, hold my beer

These reminds me of that very high IQ couple of idiocracy. 😂

The pressures in Japan in both business and getting an education are too great for any human to bear unless you're a sociopath and don't need any human interaction. I lived in Hawaii for a couple of decades and tutored the wives of Japanese businessmen as well as some with American husbands. In Hawaii, where the culture is to slow down, relax and be a human being sometimes instead of a human doing, they relaxed and some couples who had been struggling to have children became pregnant. It isn't healthy to be working from sunup to sunset and it's shameful that people who think that way are in power. I admire the Japanese culture and believe the Japanese will get back to their roots. They have overcome many crises in their past and tend to land on their feet when in free fall.

Pretty sure this is happening world-wide and not only in Japan

Once the country is developed, the working environment is very competitive and the people mindset is to preserve their personal freedom. Having a child takes away their time and money.

They need new parenting styles, working hours, and prices almost on everything, because those three things create recluses.

I understand why Japanese women chose to be independent. What a great share! Thanks you.

This is exactly opposite what’s going on in the Philippines.Sad😔

The author of Sex and the City promoted the single life for all women when she was young. Now that she is 60 and without a spouse or children, she said she can barely stand her loneliness. She had friends but some got married and the others were just too busy with their lifestyle that they barely talked to her.

Being single is great. No drama. No bullshit.

Japan: Cost of raising a child is too damn high. India (drowning in poverty): allow us to introduce ourselves.

This is so sad. The loneliness and overwork musty be crushing on the human psyche for these people.

The main reason is because of the economy. It's expensive to have kids in Japan, the cost of living is high and not a great pay to much that living costs. Japan forces people to go to vacations and have many holidays, with average of 37 hours per week. I think if people started getting paid better, things might change.

Nice video! Thanks!

to be honest we have the same problem in north america now just at an earlier stage of development. Basically some of the problems are: becoming detached from actual human interactions (self-checkouts, facebook proxy interactions, texting, ordering everything off amazon), difficulties of many young people to find well paying and stable jobs (a major problem of young japanese as well), the total hopelessness of certain housing markets, and I think a certain self centeredness and immaturity that makes us unrealistic and unwilling to compromise.

A huge economic collapse might not be an entirely bad thing.

How about it's difficult to raise a family in 20 square meters? Most of Asian populations are concentrated in large cities which means very high living costs and small living spaces. I think Taiwan is having a similar problem. I am not sure about S. Korea. Interestingly, Japanese men are increasingly marrying Chinese women and Taiwanese are marrying Vietnamese women. So it seems there is even a backlash against modern women in these countries, although divorce in Taiwan at least favors the man.

And that is why I plan to remain single...

Schools don't allow dating until after 18 when kids graduate high school - studying to get into good schools leaves little time to date and lowers the time stress of dating commitments - this makes manga & anime a good relaxing time killer & release.

The work ethic is terrifying

Keep up the good work I'd be there soon to buy up some land.

Oniyome sounds like the sickest title, I'd be down to be called that XD

Good to hear all 👍

I understand why this happens? They focus on education, they are worked to death, it cost a fortune to have a show of success, Women want a career, they find pleasant relationships with their same sex circles, women have become too selective of mates, these things are going on in every nation that is constantly developing. Look at countries that aren’t and I’d bet you see none of this.

They lack one thing we have in America. We don't give a damn about working extra hours just to look good. It's better time management to get the job done as quickly and effectively as possible and have the worker be happier. Happy employee is a more effective employee. They also don't have immigration of people to Japan like they don in the west.

High cost of living, geeks in isolation, fatigue from work, unrealistic fantasies and pressures on married women etc. Can someone come up with solutions for the problems listed above.

Soon robot will be the citizens of Japan. Lol. No more human in Japan. Haha

1. One has to be home to take care of the Kids 2. One has to work to provide for the Family.

Did the uniformed man at 3:51 just put up his middle finger?

Everybody worries about the support of a relatively large elderly population by a smaller young population. But if the generations roll out and remain small, the old/young demographic will balance itself out. Why do people think that a smaller population is a bad thing? It's a good thing as long as it's world wide. Less competition for land, food, fuel and goods in general. Cost of living goes up when there is so much increased demand. The environment would also benefit greatly from a smaller human burden.

I might need to move to Japan and help out. lol, On a Serious note, I can relate to some of those reasons given, and can see myself making a career and lifestyle change in the next 2 years.

mother earth joined the chat

TFW: you wished the whole world is like them,We just have too many kids nowadays

why did you pronounce Career as korea? so intimidating. sorry

Geico lizard dude sounds like you are advertizing paradise right there.

All is not what it seems in Japan. Long working hours kills relationships and connections with people. They must feel alienated from themselves. The same happens in the west.

The only solution i see is lessen work hours signinficantly then immigration will be more less work stress and more time to live

The same reasons are able to be applied to south Korea. Now, South Korea is nearly lowest birth rate rather than other far developed countries such Japan. In 2018, The birth rate of South Korea is about 0.98.

I knew it! It's anime's fault!

This is making me sad because I love anime! I hope the government will help the japanese people repopulate and make their lives better.

You can blame the older generation of Japan for this, overworking is what's creating this, and underpay. Can't blame the men of my gen in Japan for not wanting to commit.

It is always "the thinking" of the dominant...and it backfired. Aim for BALANCED. Learn when to "go or stop or wait"...

Hmm, maybe it’s because they’re trying to support a population of over 120 million people on a land area smaller than Paraguay 🤔

I want to teach English in Japan My dreams are crashing 😭😭😭

Wow, I'd choose career if I had to choose.

Play this at half speed

As my Mother always said, u out smart urself.

The excessive prioritizing of grades and work leaves no time to LIVE a full life. This destroys family life and results in high suicide rates and plummeting population. Time to reprioritize and cut those work hours!

Danny Duncan blew this video up

Maybe, I think just maybe. The government will do what happened in "Koi to Uso". Because in the anime the population of Japan is really low and the government, would push a partner in the teenagers, basing on all the data the government gets on a certain person, they will find the most suitable partner for both male and female. So It's like forcing marriage since in the anime the birth rate is said to be less than 500,000. 60,000 I think is the birth rate, I forgot. But maybe they can do this. Although they're just going to force their citizens to mate and marry people they might see for the first time in their lives.

Not having frequent sex cannot be a reason. Because casual sex don't end up in pregnancy. In fact in countries like India and Bangladesh, where casual sex is rare, they still produce way too many kids. Those two are not always related.

We don't have this issue in the Philippines 😁

It's because womens in Japan considers love as a timepass. And do you know a place without love is called hell.

Shouldn’t be the accent in ‘celibacy’ be on the first syllable? Honestly asking as non English speaker.

Wooden property costs go down with a lower population?

Japan and New Zealand are both volcanic island nations of about the same size, NZ has about 6M people and Japan 130M. What is wrong then with dwindling Japanese population? It is an over crowded country anyways.

This is not a good video for someone who cannot pronounce 'celibacy' or 'women' to narrate.

It is a very crowded country. Would fewer people really be a problem? I live in the SF Bay Area fewer people here would be a blessing

Too expensive. I failed twice at a month and two months.

Everyone in the comment section is blaming just the work and high cost of living which yes does play a huge part in all, But also the whole Technology thing is to blame as well. Technology is killing us all slowly from the inside out.

I think you should do a video about south korea because their birthrate is the lowest in the world.

I worked for a Japanese company here in the US and I can tell you they do crack the whip and not caring how many hours you would in a week

Also in japan and many asian countries unwed pregnant woman is still considered taboo, and many are forced to abort due to fear of being shamed

Good video but I'd like to point out a mistake. Term "Oni-yome" has nothing to do with working mother. It just means a wife being a dominant person in a household, like a scary or mean mother/wife who yells at her husband or in-laws and orders around.

That means life is not important for Japanese as they adored their work instead. Life is for living!

I agree with those who say it could be because so many of the young are geeks (addicted to technology), no time for real life relationships. I’m seeing signs of this all around me - ppl don’t know how to form relationships anymore (they use technology to be weird and mean).

Christmas Cakes Everywhere! Are you sure you didn't mean Oni Josei?

The Japanese government should track down all the those that have ever emigrated out and pay them(or their decedents) to come back if they are in good health and able the work. I know the Japanese are picky cuz they take pride in being Japanese, but if I was an official over there I would be willing to pay someone who is down to 1/8th Japanese decent to come back. Just to liven things up

I feel that number 5 is probably the biggest impact. Especially when you criticize them for wanting to do both. If they get rid of the stigma (really really hard to do) that wanting a career and family is bad then you might start seeing a turn around. I think number 6 is only increasing because many women are either not eligible (because they don't want to be criticized for doing both) or say no to more romantic encounters so the guys turn to virtual programs instead to get what they can't get in "real life". It's defiantly a culture thing but one I feel with enough forethought they can fix.

Anything less than a 2.11 population growth will cause a complete fall of any civilization , even America only has a 1.88 children per family. Very sad indeed for both countries

As a visitor to Japan, I can add my observation. Japan is pretty in some places but the major cities are terribly crowded. I got claustrophobic in Osaka and Tokyo. A comfortable lifestyle requires double income and/or long commuting times. No fun and not good for romance. People living that close together is not very romantic. Multiple families in one house? No thank you. I can also report that many Japanese women rather have a job than be housewives.

A society that believe in perfection. They work mainly for status.

Am I the only person confused by the fact that 1 million Japanese people were born in one year, how are they going extinct?

The overwork, underpay, and high costs of living and breeding are price signals saying that their society has grown to its ecological limit.

A fact that everyone should be aware of is that birth rates are on the decline in nearly _all_ first world nations. The reasons vary as to why for many countries, but what makes Japan’s so drastic is not only because of all the reasons showcased in the video, but also the lack of immigration which has a hand in preventing the stagnating or lower birth rates in other nations, especially the US, UK, and Canada from being particularly noticeable. Japan is one of the most homogeneous countries on the planet, second to only the Koreas, and there is a social and political attitude towards preservation of the culture, which has been cultivated for centuries, especially after the nation was in isolation for about two hundred years. Add to that that immigration is difficult in Japan, with most accepted being through green-card marriages and/or expected short term work visas such as teaching abroad. And that the work culture is very unappealing to people who those who live outside of Japan and you’ll in a situation where you have less of the ability to bolster the birth rates from outside influence. Of course, this is only one of many reasons.