Back in the 1980’s it was fashionable to proclaim that Japan, with an allegedly superior mixture of central planning and free markets, would soon own the world. It now looks like they can’t even maintain their own world, let alone anyone else’s. Decades of embracing Keynesian economics have resulted in a very bitter harvest.
Once famously derided for building bridges to nowhere, Japan’s government is now struggling to maintain them.
Even before the quake, Suzu was struggling to carry out routine maintenance of infrastructure due to money and manpower shortages. Over the past 25 years, its municipal tax revenue dropped 43% as the working-age population nearly halved. In the Noto region, the labor force fell by about 30% in the 15 years through 2020, compared to the roughly 10% drop nationwide…
FILTHY LIBERALS
Send all the Jeets from Canuckistan there, we have an extra 5 Million. Add the DEPRAVED KORANDERTHALS to the list and Japan will be a Paradise just like Canada
Population growth is THE Ponzi scheme.
The wealth of the plebe and the anti-desire of emancipated women to have more than one goat has been self-evident for decades.
Automation/mechanization is the answer, not the importation of beach-shitters, cousin-fckers and low IQ spear chuckers.
The Japanese have kept a fairly closed society. In the long game this will serve them well.
The Chicoms are going to lose hundreds of millions. They’re not afeared, but planning for it.
Population growth has served Canada so well that it now has an equivalent GDP per capita ($53,558) that is slightly better than Mississippi ($53,061).
“Automation/mechanization is the answer” Agreed. Why let in shithole people from shithole countries when over time so many jobs, rudimentary or otherwise, are going to disappear.
I have an old cartoon from a paper: A man is standing in front of a desk with a box; he obviously cleared his desk and is being fired. His boss tells him “as a matter of fact Smith, you are NOT being replaced by a machine”. In the background you can see a monkey setting up at the empty desk. This is what is hapening in Canada. Cheaper than a machine.
As soon as the article blamed climate change all credibility was gone. I stopped reading it.
The author needs to drive around NYC and they would see the same problems. Issue really is that urban infrastructure is not financially sustainable. Declining population should allow the government to remove the unnecessary infrastructure.
Read somewhere the Germans were having sewer problems in some villages due to underuse/lack of flow due to declining population
I find it to be a saddening, damn shame about Japan, as I have a couple personal connections. Sure, the country is allegedly a tad bit “racist”, although I never witnessed it a single time working for a Japanese corporation for just shy of 2 decades. Probably the most accomplished gardeners in the world – and don’t forget their koi ponds! Reliable ally since ‘45 AND they mended my father’s head wound after taking ChiCom shrapnel in the head in Korea 1951 – probably saved his life – Thank you Tokyo General Hospital! Love their Honda Accords – had a ‘84 and now drive a 2014. They really need to get their s together and turn themselves around.
That’s interesting. I have a friend who’s been living there since graduation (naturalized citizen) and he encounters fairly harsh xenophobia on a near daily basis, such as neighbours threatening to report him to immigration despite knowing he’s a citizen.
Who will maintain our high speed [sic] train when it finally gets built? Oh. wait. Nevermind. I already know the answer as our roads are crumbling, BART is always breaking down, and PG&E can no longer deliver energy.
https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/sf-neighborhood-pge-outage-3rd-time-21270611.php
https://sfstandard.com/2025/12/21/bart-sales-tax-public-transit-service-distruptions/