Feel free to vent.

[Cauthon]

Less an angry-vent and more something I find sad is how Japan's default response to their rapidly dropping population and looming social crisis is to ponder how to boost birth rates. Immigration apparently isnt even worth considering. Like... I legit think they're willing to let themselves go "extinct" as it were, rather than give up that isolationism.

I was born here, and I'm glad I got to see the country as an adult, but the steadily dying town I'm working for is a bleak microcosm of some fairly depressing xenophobia issues.

[Ragged Robin]

Less an angry-vent and more something I find sad is how Japan's default response to their rapidly dropping population and looming social crisis is to ponder how to boost birth rates. Immigration apparently isnt even worth considering. Like... I legit think they're willing to let themselves go "extinct" as it were, rather than give up that isolationism.

I was born here, and I'm glad I got to see the country as an adult, but the steadily dying town I'm working for is a bleak microcosm of some fairly depressing xenophobia issues.

isn't japan's population decline due to economic factors so immigration would be a stop gap at best?

[Cauthon]

isn't japan's population decline due to economic factors so immigration would be a stop gap at best?

Yyyyyes and no. Part of their economic situation is how weak the Yen is, which is a combination of several factors. But more pressing for them is the fact that the way their social security system is set up relies very heavily on there being a young population to support the old. Like most first-world countries, their elderly population is growing and the proportional population of youth is dropping, but they don't have any of the triage or mitigation like most other countries derive from immigrants.

As to why the population is on the decline purely in terms of births... yeah. A good chunk of it is the same as other places -the malaise and sense of hopelessness- but there's also the cost of living in cities where space is at such a premium, and the work culture is so all-consuming. They might be able to stretch things further if they were to invest more in remote/teleworking, but the traditionalist bent of the country means its going to be even harder to make that wide spread. Hell, I can't even access an ATM after buisness hours because old folks are worried about not being able to talk to a real person - that one line in Mage Core on Tokyo was frustratingly accurate.

[Ragged Robin]

Yyyyyes and no. Part of their economic situation is how weak the Yen is, which is a combination of several factors. But more pressing for them is the fact that the way their social security system is set up relies very heavily on there being a young population to support the old. Like most first-world countries, their elderly population is growing and the proportional population of youth is dropping, but they don't have any of the triage or mitigation like most other countries derive from immigrants.

As to why the population is on the decline purely in terms of births... yeah. A good chunk of it is the same as other places -the malaise and sense of hopelessness- but there's also the cost of living in cities where space is at such a premium, and the work culture is so all-consuming. They might be able to stretch things further if they were to invest more in remote/teleworking, but the traditionalist bent of the country means its going to be even harder to make that wide spread. Hell, I can't even access an ATM after buisness hours because old folks are worried about not being able to talk to a real person - that one line in Mage Core on Tokyo was frustratingly accurate.

That sounds even more like bringing in immigrants would be a stop gap solution and puts a bit grimer angle on my own countries historically more open policies. It sounds more like the country needs major internal economic reforms

[Cauthon]

That sounds even more like bringing in immigrants would be a stop gap solution and puts a bit grimer angle on my own countries historically more open policies. It sounds more like the country needs major internal economic reforms

I am but a humble logistican by trade, best I don't try to postulate viable economic reforms.

[JezMiller]

"Hello. You are through to the Voice of Madness. You will now be asked to choose an endless series of numbers on your telephone keypad until you lose the will to live and fling yourself from the roof of the nearest tall building. Your call is very important to us. No, really, it is. This is a premium rate-line"

[Ragged Robin]

"Hello. You are through to the Voice of Madness. You will now be asked to choose an endless series of numbers on your telephone keypad until you lose the will to live and fling yourself from the roof of the nearest tall building. Your call is very important to us. No, really, it is. This is a premium rate-line"

"Welcome to impenetrable website, we figured it'd be such a nightmare to navigate you'd be put of or not it literate enough to bother, plus it means we don't have to hire someone."

[GibberingEloquence]

i don't believe there is much of a reason for me to exist

i keep going because it's all i know how to do

i exist because i am afraid of death

but i don't love my life

my life is easy, i have everything i need

but there is nothing for me to achieve that will matter

the world doesn't want or need the things i want to say and do

everything shows i have no control over what happens

maybe this is why people move on and move away from me

they deserve better than spending time on a wounded animal

i'd cry, but... it'd difficult doing that nowadays...

i don't belong anywhere, i just get kicked out

i am clearly not good enough, right?

maybe it's all my fault, like [$%#] said

i just wanna go home

go back to the stars

sorry for not being good enough

i hope i made someone happy

[Iguazu]

Had to put my cat to sleep today; I've had him for, like, two-decades.

[ArcaneArts]

Had to put my cat to sleep today; I've had him for, like, two-decades.

Sorry for your loss.

[Heavy Arms]

Can someone please figure out how we can stop the pointless ritual of daylight savings time?

[Darksol-aeternium]

Can someone please figure out how we can stop the pointless ritual of daylight savings time?

How? Well, any generation that grew old (read as: middle aged) with that ritual is already used to it and won't waste the effort necessary to change it no matter how much people complain since they have been complaining all their lives and nothing changed, so in order to dispel that ritual you'd need to clear politics of anyone from any generation other than Millennial.

Other popular questions you may also have asked; how do we stop all the pointless spending on military buildup, or how do we exorcise all the faith from our politics, how do we quit giving tax cuts and benefits to the rich and screwing the poor and working class?

[Lysander]

Today I had Gum grafting on my back tooth and I have to to be careful on how I brush, eat and drink and take some meds for the next two weeks to ensure it takes. At least the surgery went well and I don't feel any pain after the numbing agents wore off.

[Iguazu]

Sorry for your loss.

Thank you.

[Lysander]

Vascular Dementia is a terrible disease to witness firsthand when you see the person (My Dad in this case) both physically and mentally decline in such a short period of time and there is not much you can do to stop it. Right now my Dad is advancing further into the end stages of the disease.