Education and birth control are key to reducing poverty and hunger. Having a child that you can not provide for yourself is cruel and irresponsible. Governments and corporations want more people for cheap labor but don't care about the quality of life people have.

Just make growing children affordable, and give people time they need for that, Japanese have none.

I get why Japan's low birthrate is important, but as a millennial; let me tell you they aren't the only populace who don't want a baby.

Japan's birth rate is actually the highest in East Asia. South Korea, Taiwan, China, Hong Kong, and Singapore have much lower birth rates than Japan and are more serious.

Let's be honest, migration hasn't worked perfectly in other countries, and the culture clash with Japan might be too much. At the end of it all, if people don't want kids that's that. The economy, similar to many others, will struggle for a while (decades/generations), until the population goes down to a more manageable size. We should just allow that to happen and manage it as much as we can (probably legalising areas such as assisted dying would help with everyone's burden a bit).

NO BIRTH, NO SUFFERING!

South Korea has the same problem

This is how serious this problem is getting all their technology and economy couldn't solve this problem 😢😢😢😢😢

Over 100 million people is still a baffling number of people for a country that small, considering countries like ones in Scandinavia have roughly 5 - 10 million people per country.

Alarmism. Aging population is happening everywhere, not just Japan.

Life in the developed country is getting more and more expensive due to bailouts , money printing why would you take on a family if you are not even sure how you can look after yourself .

A low birthrate is not a problem, it just means that pensions will get slashed and old people will have to live on less. There is no great riddle.

No one wants to pay child support

Is this news or a comedy show?

What's with the question mark?

Gonna need that massage robot

Honestly it's good that people overall are having less children. Humanity has exceeded the carrying capacity of the planet. The only reason anyone cares is because the boomers are retiring and tax revenues will fall. This sucks for older generations, as there will be less funds for their care. That said less people is good for our species.

Japan has been too crowded for decades. Population needs to be in balance with jobs, resources, nature and the environment. Having a bigger population in any country than the country can support makes no sense. Access to food, water, shelter, energy and jobs should guide population levels. The worlds population is still expected to add another billion people to feed, clothe and produce pollution. Humans are crowding out all other species of plants and animals. Education and birth control are key to reducing poverty and hunger. Having a child that you can not provide for yourself is cruel and irresponsible. We need solutions not just sympathy. Endless population growth is not sustainable on a finite planet. Every country needs to "TRY" to be more self sufficient. When there are not enough resources to sustain a population something has to give. Countries need to focus on quality of life for their citizens and not just quantity of life for cheap labor. Why import fossil fuels when wind and solar energy can be produced locally and solar energy can power electric vehicles. We need solutions not just sympathy.

There is no need for that many humans in the age of automation.

Japan is Most Richest and Educated People in the World. No Religious Extremist or Riots . Good luck Japan. 🇯🇵

Japan is going to show us how to transition from standard growth model to a new future where humans are rarer and much more of their needs are supplied by technology

Talking about Robots when the problems should be the topic and fixing it.

He's a lot to ask, she's a lot to say, they don't come together at all and in the end, although the experience has been kind of cringe, you learned a terrible lot and got a even more questions to follow up. So all in all pretty much like a your average panel at a science conference.

Can I recomend "The Windup Girl" by Paolo Bacigalupi, the central character is a discarded bio robot created by Japan to deal with the need for more workers.

This is the future we're creating for ourselves.

The record low birth rate is a great news for many people who actually live in Japan.

PLEASE READ ABOUT JAPANESE UNIT 731 ITS BRUTAL!

They need Growth ❤ Please Japan 🙏 do it for Everyone ❤

Lol. Singularity. We can't even agree on how people are supposed to be, how are we going to agree on how sentient robots should be?

Median age for Japan is 50 while China is 39

In away it's good to having a robot baby, because it's going to listen and it doesn't coast daily also you don't need to pay child support 🤔

She is totally wrong about humanoid robots. They will serve for societal good as the primary use case

Young people will end up adopting robot babies, because the Rich of the planet have made the lives of young workers on miserable wages impossible to afford a family life. Thanks to the 🤑

Shrinking good. This is the opposite of a crisis: this is salvation. Robots to the rescue.

Think most countries are the same. Everyone has to work. Money pressure.

What an utterly depressing future we're facing.

when your country is reliant on population growth, you failed in policy

There is absolutely nothing wrong with reducing the human birthrate on this planet. We just surpassed 8 BILLION people and the earth isnt in that great of shape.

The fact that the leading forces of the Japanese economy think this is a solution shows just how much human life is devalued in our economies. The causes of the demographic crisis aren't some weird quirk like Hikikomoris or otaku culture, its socio-economic pressures that have been building since the 1970s. Its economic inequality and gender inequality that stopping young Japanese from having families or having more than one child. Ask any Japanese feminist or sociologist and they will point out the same Wages are been stagnant for decades and the economic situation values stability for seniority rather than opportunity for newcomers. This means rather than fire the old, the young face hiring freezes or take precarious entry level jobs that dont match their experience of living expenses. Most young Japanese just get by with TWO incomes, and often have to work multiple long jobs. Economic mobility is downward and staying out of poverty is the goal rather than moving upward in these conditions. Gender inequality is among the worst in Japan, and it directly impacts the decision of many prospective mothers. As mentioned family required 2 incomes in order to stay afloat in Japan, so possible mothers are put in a impossible position where if they stop working to take care of a child, their family goes into poverty and if they return to work (if they havent been laid off) there is no one to take care of the child, as most dont have the money to afford childcare. In addition, the social responsibility of home making and child raising is treated solely as the responsibility of women in Japan much to the frustration of all women involved. The average Japanese mother surveyed says that she gets about 3-4 hours of sleep per night, as she has to take care of the kids, take care of the husband, probably work at least a part time job to ensure theres enough food, take care of the house, and so on. Men arent hapless bystanders also because of Japanese work culture, as most are stuck at work commitments well into the night and dont have much time to help raise kids or tend to the house even if they tried. Rather than try to restructure the economy to ensure prosperity for the young is cultivated, push to restrain Japanese work culture and hours, or promote more social services like child care, the Japanese government and leading figures rather uphold the unsustainable status quo than foster human well being.

Most Japanese had migrated to other countries like Singapore and Malaysia...

It doesn’t help when more young Japanese adults choose their career over having a family. It also doesn’t help when more Japanese men are getting cold feet over getting married.

I like that Japan doesn't accept immigration. I can travel there and not feel at home.

We rather welcome robots than cheap, low quality immigrants. Japan's population was 70 million in 1945 and exploded after WWII to 120 million today. There're more people in inhabitable area than in Germany, UK or most of countries in the world. The problem is the demographic composition which is largely elderly. The government is importing cheap labour without the consent of the sovereign people, but we should accept the population decrease to some extent, and invest in mechanization and automation to save human resources.

Having kids is overrated.I'd rather order pizza.

There are more pets than babies in Tokyo. I didn’t see people enjoying cat robots although they tried to create the events at the coffee shops.

The humanoid robots are coming, it is just that they may be a few years still off.

I think a lot of get a bad feeling for what the future holds. It's better we live it up and have fun while we can instead of bringing in more tax payers

We call on the Chinese government not to engage in decoupling and chain breaking! Open China Internet! Allow our Internet enterprises to enter China! Stop restricting the free flow of funds into and out of China!

Another "Weird Japan" report from western media.

Find another way to make babies

Not surprised

robot girlfriends, mistresses and concubines!

Mad ting!

The economy is man-made. Japan will figure out a man-made solution for a man-made system and then other nations will build on it.

Robot baby. Robot Asian babies.

Asking why is JP not opening its border to mass immigration... as if the west and specially Europe WERE being able to make it work out! Ha, what a joker!

IF the Japanese population falls by 30% in the next 45 years, that will be of immense benefit to the Japanese then alive. Japan is a grossly over-populated country and fewer people will mean far more room to move around, less crowded roads and public transport systems, more room for a house of one's own instead of paying sky high prices or rents for tiny flats/apartments. We keep hearing this rubbish about pensions. If you are going to live for another 3 years, then it won't hurt you to work for another year, will it. You will still have 2 years to do bugger all. Never mind the pensions what about the savings in child health costs, child care, education etc. Children do not sow, neither do they reap, they merely consume. You show me any country with a high birth rate, behind the public show and bling of the rich, I will show you abject poverty.

Idk,but if there is no young ppl there is no future,no new ideas and no one to look after the older population...😢no,grandbabies,no great grandkids & no one to carry on traditions & culture....

You can't fix demography if you don't fix housing! Build homes in masses! Just individuals allowed to buy. No investors or companies!

Norway has 1X, Mercedes has just put Apollo on the factory floor, BMW is investing in Figure, Boston Dynamics, the KZfaq Channel Pro Robots... It's not theory or only Japanese... This is in the very near future and actually now. Nvidia and Microsoft are building new computers and data centers that will have the entire internet on a single server rack using less energy than today's servers. I can be available for interview.

next big thing diaper for robots

There is misinformation. Japanese government isn't taking advantage of robot. I haven't seen these robots in my living, as a matter of fact. government has accepting many immigrants rather than using technology to solve aging society. many immigrants saturate anywhere in Japan.

Nothing lasts forever not even the human race,everything that has a beginning has an end.

Well man created this problem in the first place. The solution is not rocket science yet we still prefer taking the capitalistic route.

When you have less people in your country you have less people to feed, enough work for everyone, more space for everyone and enough houses !

I wonder how are the relations between men and women in Japan? Are they suffering the same as the West in terms of a war between the sexes?

Oh no they create robo babies before Terminator rises 😱😱😱😱😱😱

At least Japan is rich right? When they die off who's going to inhabit their land? They should ask the Greeks what happened in Anatolia except the Greeks were removed by force.

You should not have kids you cannot take care of, when the vast majority of 18-50 year old's, is living paycheck to paycheck.

Children of Men

i'm not going to bring a life into this world with so many problems. the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. the rich are 1% of the population and the 99% are supporting the rich being over worked, underpaid, and over taxed. can't afford to buy a house, cant afford rent, food is horrible, no affordable healthcare or education. i'm going to be in debt for the rest of my life because of my own country.... this world could be an amazing place.... but it's not. why on earth would i bring a child into this world. i still want to be a mom... but damn... it's like knowing what this world is like and bringing a chld into this world... that's so irresponsible and basically torture

Could you at least give Japanese scholars a chance to answer? They can speak English too fyi

❤❤❤❤❤❤

Are they kidding ?

Funny how this esteemed professor implied that under democracy we cannot give privileges to men and we cannot also take away privileges from women. Almost like instead of democracy Japan actually has a matriarchy.

Can't stop laughing 😂

😂😂😂

Japan can be easily conquered in the last days.

Automation > immigration

Who really cares?

Safer for the whale 🐳

Japan should bring in African and Indian men, just like Europe does.

Japan is done

Why are Americans talking about the birth rate in Japan let Japanese talk about their low birth rate not Americans.

大きなお世話。

Tr-ans-humanism anyone 🙄😖

EUGENICS

Population decline is going to be a massive problem over the next few decades

Immigrants is the only solution it seems, but Japan isn't going to do that.

Japopulation crisis

The solution is going back to traditional values

japan needs to reduce work, improve salary, make immigration easy

She talks too much.

They were only allowed have one child and thousands of children were abounded and left to die in parks and on the street what did they except

A lower birth rate is something to celebrate, if you don't want the biosphere to collapse and every living thing on the planet to die. Economic growth is driving the collapse of the planet. You might want to talk to Prof. William Rees, who helped develop the ecological footprint measurement system that shows this is true.

EUGENICS