A different kind of post. As I drive through Hokkaido, the northernmost Island in Japan, listening to the Cure’s new melancholic album, I had several closing thoughts on Japan, which I’ll attempt to scribble down below.
First of all, everyone is old. Yes, we all know Japan has a super old population and a really low replacement rate, but visually seeing the population, everyone is old. The population is forecasted to drop by 40 million by 2060 or something. That is insane. Like what is the impact going to be? Sure, there will be the strain on the economy due to lowered productivity, more reliance on social security measures and pensions, more pressure on fiscal resources. For me, I think what will happen to the countryside? I’ve been fortunate enough, during my five weeks here, to spend a fair bit of time in the countryside, Japanese alps, and Hokkaido. There’s not a lot of businesses here. All the companies are in the big cities. So what happens, when the population declines. Who will take care of infrastructure in these remote areas? Who will look after the nature? What will happen to all the empty houses and businesses that aren’t restored? In this situation a country would have two choices. Option A, increase the number of immigrants to help with the labour shortage. Option B, robotics. Japan, already have one of the lowest immigration rates in the world. It’s under 2% or something. And they want to preserve their culture, and so they’ve adopted to invest in robotics. And despite what is said, I haven’t found Japan super modern. Outside of the big cities, again, facilities and infrastructure is very basic. They are just really efficient at using their resources.
What next. Sleep. I read an article in the Economist a few months back. Japan have the least amount of sleep out of all countries in the world. They go to bed the latest, and wake up the earliest. I’ve witnessed this, staying at guest houses. And they are ALWAYS sleeping. If you ever board a bus, train, plane, I assure you, over half the people will be having a nap. Even if it is two stops on the tube, and they’re standing. It’s interesting, because I read another article where it said Japan are one of the least productive workforces. So they are in this conundrum where they are expected to work long hours, perhaps to maintain the ethos of what helped them double their economy in the 60s (up until 2011 they were the world’s second largest economy), but they’re not sleeping so they’re really unproductive. You may have heard the term, Salaryman. It means job for life. And you’re expected to devote yourself to your company, and in return, you have a job for life. But people feel bad if they take time off work. Statistically, Japanese people only take 50% of their allocated holiday days because they feel as though it is disservice to their company if they take paid time off. Damn, I’ll take all the time off I can get. I used to get 23 days and I’d complain the hell about that.
Right, so I went to have some food and now I’ve lost my trail of thought. So I’ll write one or two more sentences then finish. It’s well reported the yen has depreciated by close to 50% vs the dollar. It’s not expensive here but it’s not cheap either. Final comment, has to go to the people. They genuinely are so kind, funny, and hospitable. And above all, they put the effort in to converse. And I’ve discovered the best of people outside of the big cities. I’ll always recommend to anyone who comes to Japan, and has an abundance of time, to venture outside of Tokyo, Osaka and Kyoto. Because that’s where you can see the more authentic Japan.
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