General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Japan’s sexual apathy is endangering the global economy [View all]betsuni
(25,472 posts)ask young women in their classes about their hopes for the future and the majority of them say they want to be stay-at-home housewives, have kids. The majority of the young men say that if they marry they want to their wives to work because the burden of being the sole provider is too difficult -- no more lifetime employment, increase in part-time and contract work, and who wants to deal with the stress and unpaid overtime of being a full-time employee, anyway. Their teacher asks them, "So, guys, who are you going to marry then?"
I see commercials on TV: the product was something that gave mother more time to spend with her children. She's with her little girl and the girl says, "intelligent" then "probably going to be rich." At first viewing I assume her mother had asked her what she wanted to be like when she grew up. OF COURSE NOT. How Western of me. They were looking at pictures of the girl's classmates and her mother asked her which boy she liked and the girl was describing him, that she likes him because he's smart and the insinuation when she says he's probably going to be rich is that he'd be good husband. Then you can be a happy housewife like your mother!
Big difference between urban and rural, as has been pointed out. When I lived in a small city on the other coast of Japan, the rural one, the first thing I noticed was how many young married couples with kids there were and three kids not that unusual (they're obviously doing all the humping in the country). everything is so much cheaper. Second thing is how the older couples laughed and talked, as if they actually LIKED each other. If Japan had only gone through with their decentralization plans years ago. What will happen when the old people die off and no more small-farm produce? They should be giving away land so young people can go into farming and traditional production of miso and soy sauce and things like that. A new Homestead Act. This would solve a lot of problems. Urban people are completely cut off from nature.
Also, nobody wants to marry oldest sons. Then you might end up, even if you insist you won't, taking care of his parents in their old age.