Japan prefers pets to parenthood [?]

[ardo]

Many Japanese women... prefer pets to parenthood. Startlingly, in a country panicking over its plummeting birthrate, there are now many more pets than children. While the birthrate has been falling dramatically and the average age of Japan's population has been steadily climbing, Japan has become a pet superpower. Official estimates put the pet population at 22 million or more, but there are only 16.6 million children under 15.

The average fertility rate is now 1.39 children per woman – well below the number needed to keep the population stable. Japan has, in effect, a self-imposed one-child policy. Government projections show if current trends continue, today's population of 128 million will fall to 43 million over the next century.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandsty...e&type=article

The most important reason for Japan's declining birthrate is less sex," says Dr Kunio Kitamara, director of Japan's Family Planning Research Centre.

His annual surveys indicate that the nation's libido has been lagging in the last decade. The birthrate has declined, but fewer contraceptives are being used and there are fewer abortions and lower rate of sexually transmitted diseases. "Why?" asks Dr Kitamara: "Less sex!"

His research shows that almost half of married couples have sex less than one a month, and "young people dislike sexual intercourse". His latest data from 2010 showed that 32% of young men dislike sex because "they are afraid of failure and rejection by women." Sixty percent of women in their mid- to late 20s are single, and 70% of unmarried women don't have a boyfriend. [!]

[jjjjeczalik]

Funny, because I was just telling someone the other day that (in my opinion) a lot of women seem to be substituting pets for human companionship (here on the Atlantic coast of the United States). For every two women with a spouse or one or more children, I know at least fifteen with a dog that they love to death and take everywhere they go.

[gyoza, ramen & a beer]

What, and where really, is the surprise in this?

For the last several generations in virtually every Western country -- and I'd argue that Japan, for all it's obvious Asian-ness, tilts more toward the West than not -- there have been huge and dramatic improvements in women's lives in the life-defining areas of reproductive rights, workplace and educational opportunities, economic advancement and legal protections.

In short, women are no longer dependent on the support of a male partner the way their mothers largely were and their grandmothers near-absolutely were. With such independence have come once-unimagined possibilites for self-enrichment and fulfillment, few of which require the ten-to-twenty year committment of energy and resources that children do.

When, on top of those personal disincentives to child-bearing, you add the damage to fertility rates caused by environmental toxins, STDs, nutritional additives and rampant misuse of antibiotics, you've got a near-perfect causative storm for declining birth-rates and the coming explosion of aging and enfeebled Western populations.

Living in surroundings similar to those described by jjjjeczalik above, this trend has been obvious for a long time. What's also a fact is the later attempts by many of these same women to become pregnant in their 30s and 40s through fertility treatments which routinely cost tens of thousands of dollars.

[lb32435]

The important statistic is how many women dislike sex...

[deathtical]

Well, I was hoping it would... I mean wouldn't come down to this... but I guess I'll have to take one for the team and head on over to Japan and help get those birth rates back up

[jswift255]

Originally Posted by deathtical

Well, I was hoping it would... I mean wouldn't come down to this... but I guess I'll have to take one for the team and head on over to Japan and help get those birth rates back up

You have my sword

[Aqua2213]

Originally Posted by jjjjeczalik

Funny, because I was just telling someone the other day that (in my opinion) a lot of women seem to be substituting pets for human companionship (here on the Atlantic coast of the United States).

Funny, here on the Left coast many men seem to be substituting their right hands for companionship, thus the growing demand for palm oil.

"Official estimates put the pet population at 22 million or more, but there are only 16.6 million children under 15."

A zoophiles dream. "Snausage little fella?"

[megatroll]

Originally Posted by ardo

Sixty percent of women in their mid- to late 20s are single, and 70% of unmarried women don't have a boyfriend.

I'm visiting Tokyo in December.

OUTLOOK = POSITIVE

[patilistan]

Shiiiiit I'm moving to Japan. Too bad about the local dudes though, I thought it was always the media that depicted them as 'lacking' and timid, never thought the timid part would be true. But... if you wont, I'll take your women.

[prophetomega]

When common sense is at work.