Young, Poor Japanese: Don't Get Married
By Tom Miller. Posted on .
According to the BBC, the Prime Minister of Japan, Taro Aso, firmly jammed his foot in his mouth this week when he essentially told young, poor Japanese couples not to get married. As his Liberal Democratic Party struggles to salvage anything in the run-up to their elections, the PM said, "Young people had better not get married with little money."
While one may guess that he meant to say, you should have a little bit of money and direction before starting a family, he went on to say that, in essence, that respect is hard to achieve without gainful employment. This comes at a time when many Japanese people are incredibly sensitive about job security. (As are we all.) Read: On Being The Breadwinner
There is massive concern in Japan about the country's shrinking population. In this space, we've often attributed their inability to meet the replacement rate of reproduction as a byproduct of some really weird youth trends (and downright baffling porn) and social anxieties but it could be that the man is keeping them down. Read: Lonely Japanese Turn To Dolls For Companionship, Intercourse
One would think that the Prime Minister would find ways to galvanize the youth of his country rather than admonish them. While it may not have the same impact in Japan as in the US of America, you'd think getting married, if the timing was otherwise right, would be something that the government would encourage. You save some amount of money by living together. Marrieds, at least anecdotally, are more stable than singletons and possibly even more driven to prosper for the sake of their spouse. But he may have also meant to reference children, as 98% of Japanese babies are born in wedlock.
There's a very good chance that this guy, Taro Aso, will be out of office in a few months (and his tenure has really made us miss Junichiro Koizumi, the Japanese Richard Gere), but any thoughts regarding elected officials telling us when to get married? Is it any of their business? Or do we sometimes not like hearing hard truths? Can you imagine if President Obama said the same thing about poor Americans? Will The Government Make You Take His Last Name?
