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[FreeMufasa]

Why don't people like to fuck in that country?

Also, this is sorta nice

People are fucking. Just not fucking to make kids

 

[Thelonelykoopa]

Would it perhaps be cheaper to buy her a car?

I'm going to say no... Getting a license in japan is really expensive not to mention she lives in Hokkaido which is really cold with bad(snowy) weather so I can't imagine the roads will be all that safe.

 

[Sumio Mondo]

Would it perhaps be cheaper to buy her a car?

It would certainly take a lot longer and probably impossible to reach her destination if it's as snowy as in those photos, it gets bad in Hokkaido. Besides, trains are just really important in that country for travel.

 

[Skinpop]

Why don't people like to fuck in that country?

Also, this is sorta nice

the fertility rate is the same as germany and not that far off most developed countries so it's a question that applies globally. japan stand out because their immigration is much lower, not because they fuck less.

 

[Alienous]

This could easily be a studio ghibli film and one of high quality as well.

Not unless there's a love story.

 

[Gentleman Jack]

Hey he just asked if buying a house was hard. He never asked about utilities! :3

Go on, make one typo on your internet service application.

I dare you.

 

[Kapi96]

heh, that's pretty cool of them to do that for her.

 

[navii]

love this story. I wanna go there and catch that train with her. I bet people will actually start doing that now.

 

[Darksol]

love this story. I wanna go there and catch that train with her. I bet people will actually start doing that now.

I do not recommend going to Japan so that you can keep a teenage girl company on the train

 

[vityaz]

Would it perhaps be cheaper to buy her a car?

I'm going to say no... Getting a license in japan is really expensive not to mention she lives in Hokkaido which is really cold with bad(snowy) weather so I can't imagine the roads will be all that safe.

It would certainly take a lot longer and probably impossible to reach her destination if it's as snowy as in those photos, it gets bad in Hokkaido. Besides, trains are just really important in that country for travel.

Don't forget she's a high-school girl, and they made the decision 3 years ago. I think you've got to be at least 18 to get a "normal" driver's license there.

 

[True Savior]

That's just beautiful

 

[Angelus Errare]

Go on, make one typo on your internet service application.

I dare you.

He won't even get to that stage. Downside of renting vs buying in Japan. Getting internet service as a foreigner renting an apartment is pretty painless. Getting internet service as a foreigner who bought a house but doesn't have a resident visa? I'd say there's better luck in solving P vs NP

 

[The Real Abed]

Lol, this is so fuckin stupid. What a waste of energy

You tell that to the poor high school student who needs to get to school and has no other means. You're so mean.

 

[daveo42]

That's both amazing and sad in the context of their slowly shrinking country.

 

[MHWilliams]

Why don't people like to fuck in that country?

Also, this is sorta nice

Normal post-industrial issues.

The chief reason for the dearth of births is the decline of marriage. Fewer people are opting to wed, and they are doing so later in life. At least a third of young women aim to become full-time housewives, yet they struggle to find men who can support a traditional family. In better economic times potential suitors had permanent jobs as part of the “lifetime employment” system. Now many hold down temporary or part-time work. Other women shun marriage and children because Japan’s old-fashioned corporate culture, together with a dire shortage of childcare, would force them to give up their careers. Finally, young people are bound by strict social codes. Only around 2% of babies are born outside marriage (compared with 30-50% in most of the rich world), which means that as weddings plummet, so do births. Even for those who do start families, the rising cost of child-rearing often imposes a de facto one-child policy.

Japan has a very strong corporate culture. Older employees aren't leaving and they tend to be employed for life until they choose to retire, so younger employees have little to work with. Women are participating in the corporate workforce more often, but having kids would be detrimental to their careers. Even if they did want to start a family and had a husband who is willing to shoulder part of the burden, paternity leave is still a problem. Child care facilities need to be beefed up.

Basically, a ton of issues based around a strong focus on businesses means people are skipping having kids. Hell, in Japan, they're not even dating.

Japan has one of the lowest birth rates in the world - and its population is on course to shrink dramatically by the middle of the century.
So every five years the government carries out a detailed survey of attitudes to sex and marriage.
The latest found that 61% of unmarried men aged 18 to 34 have no girlfriend, and half of women the same age have no boyfriend - a record high.
More than a quarter of the men and 23% of the women said they were not even looking.
Some cited a shortage of money, others a belief that it is impossible to find a good partner once they had passed the age of 25.
Many of the women also said single life suited them better than how they imagined marriage would be.
The survey also found that more than quarter of unmarried men and women between 35 and 39 years old said they had never had sex.

And immigration is rather difficult.

Oddly enough, Japan isn't the worst. Germany has the world's lowest birth rate and the rest of Europe isn't that far behind Japan. It's why the German government is allowing a larger number of immigrants and making it easy to migrate.

Someone should turn this story into an anime or jdrama. Densha Onna.

 

[Slayven]

Would be awesome if she was totally unaware of the whole thing

 

[StrangerInTheAlps]

Lol, this is so fuckin stupid. What a waste of energy

Yeah, screw her for being too young to drive to a school that is likely 20 km away. I'll bet she gets a free education too! #kidsthesedays

 

[GKSilKamina]

That's a really neat story. I wonder how lonely it must be being the only passenger, though.

 

[onepiecefan]

Nice story, sweet thing to do.

 

[Kenshin001]

love this story. I wanna go there and catch that train with her. I bet people will actually start doing that now.

It would be a chikan's dream come true.

 

[bomma_man]

I've read this murakami book

 

[BocoDragon]

Right now there are plenty of North American school busses that drive around rural areas and make stops to pick up single passengers. Is that a story? Nope.

Japan just loves it's adorkable slice of life stories. "This small town in Kyuushu has its mail delivered by an adorable kitten" Lol

 

[Hero]

Sounds like an anime plot.

Also, I don't actually understand why a falling birthrate is a big problem because neither humanity or the Japanese people are in danger of extinction in fact we seem a lot closer to being overpopulated

Define 'we.'

 

[RangerBAD]

Would it perhaps be cheaper to buy her a car?

Have to be 19. Can ride certain motorcycles at 16, but it's pointless to have a car or a bike in an area that gets a lot of snow.

 

[BlueWord]

Lol, this is so fuckin stupid. What a waste of energy

What the fuck is wrong with you?

It's a sweet story. Moreover, in a broader sense, energy should ultimately serve human interest. I'm sure this girl's education will ultimately contribute to the generation of more "energy" than was expended to enact this very decent human kindness. Even if it doesn't, can we not all agree that the value of an education extends far beyond just what that education can tangibly produce?

 

[bootsthecat]

A Taiwan Apple Daily report said that the girl featured in the story does take the train every day, but the year-three student takes it from Kyu-Shirataki Station, instead of the Kami-Shirataki Station, along with more than 10 schoolmates at 7.15am. That is the only train in the morning.

On their way home, they have a choice of three trains, with one as late as 7.25pm.

http://www.straitstimes.com/asia/ea...ays-open-for-one-high-school-girl-perhaps-not

Still a nice story, regardless

 

[StrangerInTheAlps]

Right now there are plenty of North American school busses that drive around rural areas and make stops to pick up single passengers. Is that a story? Nope.

Japan just loves it's adorkable slice of life stories. "This small town in Kyuushu has its mail delivered by an adorable kitten" Lol

How much do you think it costs to maintain a train line versus, say, a single bus?

 

[ItIsOkBro]

How much do you think it costs to maintain a train line versus, say, a single bus?

Dude it's a single stop on an operating line.

 

[MaxDOL]

This kind of story from Japan remind me of "Yokohama Kaidashi Kikō" manga.

 

[Haly]

This kind of story from Japan remind me of "Yokohama Kaidashi Kikō" manga.

Props for namedropping Yokohama Kaidashi Kiko.

 

[Dennis]

This kind of story from Japan remind me of "Yokohama Kaidashi Kikō" manga.

AKA the greatest manga of all time.

 

[Sunset Samurai]

this very heart warming. so kind of them to do that for her

 

[DiipuSurotu]

That's a really neat story. I wonder how lonely it must be being the only passenger, though.

She's not the only passenger. Other people get on and off the train at many stations before and after her stop.

 

[javac]

That's super cute.

 

[torre_avenue]

That's super kawaii.

FTFY.

 

[7DollarHagane]

I wonder if the problem of population becomes bad enough that they encourage immigration of families and young people to at least increase population if the native population won't reproduce.

 

[Skinpop]

I wonder if the problem of population becomes bad enough that they encourage immigration of families and young people to at least increase population if the native population won't reproduce.

it's a global problem. and immigration doesn't actually solve it.
technology and a new socioeconomic paradigm is needed. also at 125 m you could argue that japan is too densely populated anyway. perpetual growth isn't sustainable and having a country like japan doing their own thing will probably result in solutions sooner or later.

 

[Warm Machine]

The world isn't facing an overpopulation crisis. It is facing a declining birth rate problem in developed countries. North America and Europe are leaning really heavily on immigration to fill a gap. For instance, Canada hasn't had a sustainable birth rate since the 70s. Even the US is something like 1.8 children per woman, and sustainability is around 2.2, which is where the world is about right now.

 

[-Horizon-]

Movie when?

 

[BocoDragon]

The world isn't facing an overpopulation crisis. It is facing a declining birth rate problem in developed countries. North America and Europe are leaning really heavily on immigration to fill a gap. For instance, Canada hasn't had a sustainable birth rate since the 70s. Even the US is something like 1.8 children per woman, and sustainability is around 2.2, which is where the world is about right now.

No way bro. Japan needs me to go over there and sex their waifus because they are too busy watching moe cartoons.

 

[clav]

Normal post-industrial issues.

Japan has a very strong corporate culture. Older employees aren't leaving and they tend to be employed for life until they choose to retire, so younger employees have little to work with. Women are participating in the corporate workforce more often, but having kids would be detrimental to their careers. Even if they did want to start a family and had a husband who is willing to shoulder part of the burden, paternity leave is still a problem. Child care facilities need to be beefed up.

Basically, a ton of issues based around a strong focus on businesses means people are skipping having kids. Hell, in Japan, they're not even dating.


And immigration is rather difficult.

Oddly enough, Japan isn't the worst. Germany has the world's lowest birth rate and the rest of Europe isn't that far behind Japan. It's why the German government is allowing a larger number of immigrants and making it easy to migrate.

Someone should turn this story into an anime or jdrama. Densha Onna.

http://www.npr.org/sections/paralle...e-day-care-help-boost-japans-sluggish-economy

There's also a back log of day care centers, so women often sacrifice their careers to take care of kids. However fewer women want to commit to that mentality. Also some women can't deal with the social anxiety created by moving away from tradition of mommy not at home taking care of kids full-time.

Men aren't helping either.

From the article:

Japanese men do the lowest amount of household work in the developed world, a reflection that the East Asian nation still sees caretaking and household duties as women's domain.

 

[jblank83]

Men aren't helping either.

From the article:

No offense to anyone, but that's pretty typical of most East Asian countries (well, China and Vietnam, at least).

It'd be interesting to see data on this, actually. As in, what are the most and least progressive cultures in East Asia.

 

[Slayven]

what if she is a ghost?

 

[StayDead]

Lol, this is so fuckin stupid. What a waste of energy

Huh? The train is going to go past that station anyway. Why not stop?

 

[DiipuSurotu]

what if she is a ghost?

 

[TuXx]

Good guy Japan

 

[Dennis]

Oh Japan you so kawaii.

This should be a movie like Hachi: A Dog's Tale.

Train: A Girl's Tale.

 

[Skinpop]

http://www.npr.org/sections/paralle...e-day-care-help-boost-japans-sluggish-economy

There's also a back log of day care centers, so women often sacrifice their careers to take care of kids. However fewer women want to commit to that mentality. Also some women can't deal with the social anxiety created from the traditional mommy not at home taking care of kids full-time.

Men aren't helping either.

From the article:

well, sacrifice career to take care of kids or sacrifice kids to have a successful career? Sacrifice is such a stupid word in this context anyway. I honestly can't stand people who say they sacrifice things for their children. it's their responsibility and the only thing they can sacrifice is their child by neglecting it.

I do think it would be a great move to make stay at home parenting more attractive/socially acceptable for men. ideally we could have a situation where stay at home parenting is just as prevalent but equally shared between women and men.

Also, women don't sacrifice their career because there is a back log at day care centers. kids with stay at home mums still go to day care centers, though usually only half day.

 

[WoodWERD]

After reading the headline I half expected the passenger to be a dog

Spoiler

e

 

[Jazz573]

Yeah, screw her for being too young to drive to a school that is likely 20 km away. I'll bet she gets a free education too! #kidsthesedays

She (or her parents) most likely are paying, as most Japanese high schools are private schools. They even have to write entrance exams just to get in.