A combination of a forbidding language (with sixteen forms of address), a history of island isolation despite accelerated modernization, xenophobia, addiction to formality and a paralyzing decline in birthrates have created a nation of contradiction and psychological repression. Japan, an industrial and information technology powerhouse. In fact, Japan has one of the lowest birthrates in the world. “Across the nation, whole villages are vanishing as young people choose not to have children or move to urban areas in search of better employment opportunities.
“And there is no end to the decline in sight. The government estimates that the population could shrink by around 16 million people — or nearly 13 percent — over the next 25 years… In response, Japan has made efforts to push up its fertility rate — the average number of births per woman — from its current level of around 1.4 [up from 1.27 a few years ago] to a target of 1.8, still short of the 2.1 considered necessary to hold the population steady.” New York Times, 12/24/19. The United States, which depended on immigration for growth, has an internal birthrate, also below replacement rate, of 1.9.
For every 125 job openings in Japan, on average there are only 100 available applicants to fill them. Mandatory retirement has slowly moved from 55 to between 60 and 65, with many recent “retirees” staying on anyway. There are 3-4 workers available to generate enough taxable income to support each retired worker. In 30 years, that could fall to 1 to 2 active workers supporting each retiree, an untenable economic threat. Given one of the longest life expectancies on earth, 85, the problem of caring for the elderly is very serious. Although there is universal healthcare, too many elderly die alone… sometimes undetected for weeks. It even has a name: kodoku-shi (孤独死, "solitary death"). Yet 29% of the population is over 65, the highest percentage of elderly on earth, a percentage that rises a bit every year.
Elder care and job replacement have plagued Japan for years. Engineers have even developed a series of elder-care robots (pictured above). The first thought is obviously to open up its borders to immigration, a policy that Japan has struggled to implement beginning in 2019. The culture and language are huge barriers to immigrants. “And while other countries have countered declining birth rates by permitting immigration, Japan has been slow to allow foreigners to settle there. The country granted refugee status to just 42 people last year out of the 10,000 who applied. Meanwhile, the U.S. granted asylum to more than 18,000 people in fiscal year 2019 – nearly a third of those who applied.
“But Japan, hoping to counter a labor force shortage, is taking small steps to allow foreigners to at least work in the country… [In late 2019,] Japan and Pakistan signed a memorandum of cooperation to allow Pakistanis to work in Japan. According to the agreement, ‘specified skilled workers’ must pass a test and show basic comprehension of Japanese language in order to qualify for employment in Japan… The move follows similar agreements with other Asian countries including Vietnam, Nepal and Cambodia…
“But moving to Japan as a foreigner can be tough. As an article in The Atlantic describes, a pamphlet handed to refugees explains that ‘Japanese society traditionally prefers conformity and social harmony to independence and individual expression." It gave these tips on conforming: "1) Be punctual. 2) Separate garbage according to type. 3) Don't be too loud!’” NPR.com, 12/24/19. Such immigrants never feel welcomed. Can women begin to fill more senior roles in Japanese business and politics? It seems an obvious necessity.
Traditionally, women have held fairly traditional and usually menial (salesclerks, secretaries, nurses, waitstaff) or female-related jobs (medical doctors tending to women, fashion, women-centric entertainment and publications). The assumption was that women would leave the workforce to get married and have a child or two. Out-of-wedlock birth is still rare and unacceptable to most in Japanese society.
Opening the workplace to more women in responsible positions would seem as a logical step to a growing labor shortage. Obviously, that has changed a bit of late, as women take their place in STEM work and even in politics. But there are still massive cultural barriers, a seemingly bulletproof glass ceiling to senior management except in women-centric businesses. Even in politics, where women have won a very few seats in the National Diet (the legislative branch), they hardly are treated as equals by their fellow elected representatives. Not to mention that Japan ranks 165th in women in national parliament: 10.2%.
Sexism seeps into so many aspects of Japanese life that even as women rise, they cannot escape cultural biases and pressures to continue in a subordinated role. The ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) has elected women, but they clearly are not perceived as equals. “Days after Japan's Olympics chief was forced to resign over sexist comments, the ruling party has decided to invite women to attend key meetings - as long as they do not speak… The Liberal Democratic Party proposed allowing five female lawmakers to observe its all-male board meetings… They cannot talk during the meeting - only submit opinions afterwards.
“The Tokyo Olympics organising committee chief had sparked a firestorm by saying women talked too much in meetings… Yoshiro Mori, 83, had remarked, in discussions over increasing the number of female board members, that ‘we have to make sure their speaking time is restricted somewhat, they have difficulty finishing.’… He resigned on Friday [2/12] for what he called his ‘inappropriate remarks.’…
“Toshihiro Nikai, the 82-year-old secretary general of the Liberal Democrat Party (LDP), told a news conference on Tuesday [2/16] of the plan to bring a female perspective to the all-male board meetings… He said he was aware of criticism of the male domination of the party's elected board and it was important that female members of the party ‘look’ at the decision-making process, he was quoted by Reuters as saying… ‘It is important to fully understand what kind of discussions are happening. Take a look, is what it is about,’ he said.
“Japanese media reported that the five women would be allowed to sit-in as observers on decision-making board meetings but would not be allowed to speak. They could submit their opinions to the secretariat office afterwards.” BBC.com, February 17th. BBC editorial writer, Mariko Oi, responded: “As a Japanese woman, casual sexism is what I unfortunately got used to over the years. It may happen at business meetings, work drinks or family gatherings. At those moments, many of us just laugh, pretend we didn't hear it and move on.
“That's why Mr Mori's comments didn't surprise me, and the ruling party's decision to allow non-speaking women to attend their meetings is a tactic we're familiar with… Under the previous administration of Shinzo Abe, the government set a target to increase the number of female leaders by 2020. When it didn't manage to hit the target, it quietly pushed back the deadline by a decade.”
The United States has its own problems with women rising in the business and political world, but we seem to be making genuine strides in that arena, less so in racial bias. Whatever barriers are placed on defined members of any society are driven by deep cultural biases, often staunchly defended as “that’s just who we are” rhetoric. But without addressing those cultural shibboleths, the biases linger. Next time you hear someone rail against “cancel culture” efforts, think about what they are really saying.
I’m Peter Dekom, and I wonder why just accepting that people are people, looking for the similarities rather than pounding on the differences, are just so damned difficult.
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