Job Discussion Forums

[G Cthulhu]

[nightsintodreams]

[Maitoshi]

My word-fu is much stronger than yours!

Ha! Thanks for the laugh, Fifth

[rxk22]

[rxk22]

[Maitoshi]

I haven't practiced in any formal way for over ten years. Both of my senseis have passed on. Haven't really sought out another yet. Maybe there's another old guy out here in the sticks with me who can teach me a thing or two. BTW, by "old," I'm talking 80s or 90s. Those
Are the guys you've got to watch out for. More experience and real wisdom in their little finger than I can hope to gain in a lifetime.

[rxk22]

[Maitoshi]

Couldn't agree more! Hate getting hit in the face or hitting someone else in the face. Hurts either way and the pain seems to linger more and more, the older I get. Wish I were 20 again ...

[rxk22]

Yeah, you can train right with out ruining your body. In the old days we didn't know any better. Now, we do. I don't take full contact strikes to the head at all now. Just no reason too, unless I was going to compete in MMA/Kickboxing.

I don't do Judo, but I do do take downs, and being in my 30's landing sucks way more than it did when I was 22.

[Shimokitazawa]

[rxk22]

Oh yeah, you don't need full contact to the head. Just doesn't need to happen.
Though once or twice in your life, it is good to do. To see what you can do and how you handle it. Esp if you train for SD.

Oh yeah man, I love grappling. I started in 2004 in the US, back when my state had like maybe 6 Black Belts. Was amazing seeing the sport evolve and grow so much. And I do like being able to go mostly full out. You are able to see what you can hit in a realistic situation. 99.99% of Aikidoka have no idea, and they have never experienced this level of intensity.

You are in Vietnam? Must be interesting, as the sport is still so new there I know guys in China who have to either get a coach from the major cities, or go there to get promoted.
In Japan, the ranks get weird too. I have rolled with white belts who are purple or black in their skill sets. I also have a friend who is a BB level BJJ guy, and he JUST got his brown, after being a purple for 6-7 years.

[budgie]

I've given a lot of thought and here's my take.

The birth rate is not too low. It's normal for a wealthy, non-immigrant nation. The problem is it used to be too high.

Only three generations ago Japan was a 3rd world country recovering from war. As with other poor asian countries people had large families.

Thanks to rapid modernization - largely fueled by the higher birthrate - sanitation, healthcare, longevity and all kinds of benefits ensued. Those generations are still alive today thanks to healthy living and the longest lifespans in the world.

However thanks to that very modernity, following generations have not needed such a high birthrate. This has created rather than the usual demographic pyramid, a kind of kite-shaped graph where the biggest bulge is in the upper half of the age spectrum.

Now we all know the problems this will cause in the next 20-30 years: the shortage of younger workers will mean fewer people paying for more pensioners. It will mean country towns and family farms dying off. It will see the economy shrink in line with the population - but really only relative to neighboring countries. At home the living standards will remain high. And in the longer term it will be good for Japan.

Why? Those oldies will die. They will be replaced not by another glut of oldies but by the smaller crop of post-boomers that are coming up today. The birthrate will stabilize - it can't go much lower unless people stop having kids altogether. By the end of the century the population will be around 80-90 million and younger again.

Yes the economy will be 'smaller' on the world stage, but at home everyone will have more living space and a bigger share of resources. Agriculture will have been reformed by then, with corporations running larger farms as the mom & pop operations will have been sold off to said cooperatives. Farming might actually become an attractive occupation for younger people if it means stead corporate employment. Manufacturing will still be the powerhouse it its, innovation and technology will be the same. More women in the workforce too. We won't live to see it but these are all inevitable outcomes on the present cause.

Shame it's gonna hurt in the meantime.

[rxk22]

I agree, the pop will eventually bottom out. Hopefully. I think in the long run it will be a positive for Japan. As they won't have to support tons of rural areas via workfare.

Agreed on how a country develops. Japan doesn't need 120M people. This is not the 1950's, where you have 50k people working at a single tire plant. You have factories with a few hundred at most. I think Japan was able to manhandle their land's carrying capacity, and have an artificially high pop now.

I also don't see any benefits to mass immigration. As really they are willing to settle for a lower SOL. Which in the end doesn't solve the underlying problems.

I don't want pop growth here, as that is just silly. Like the Happiness Realization Part back in 2010 wanting huge immigration and a pop of 300+M. But a fertility rate closer to 2.0 would be ideal, as the pop deflation would be less sharp

[Shimokitazawa]

I've always thought that it was better for me (us) if Japan just continued being a xenophobic, racist country with little knowledge of or contact with the outside world. Because the Japanese isolation and nationalism gives me a job here, and a good job at that.

In my view, I hope that Japan never opens up to the outside world.

Leave Planet Japan as it is.

[Shimokitazawa]