AstroBoy Online Forums

To put this post into context Some facts need to be laid out.

1. The number of suicides in Japan has increased since the Tsunami. Japan has the highest rate of suicides in the world.

2. The Tsunami took a devastating toll of young Japanese.

3. Since abortion was instituted in Japan there have been 400,000.

4. Infanticides among unwed single mothers in Japan are the highest rate per capa in Asia.

5. Orphans in Japan are rarely if ever adopted within the country.

6. 1 in every 4 marriages in Japan are ending in divorce. Marriage rates in Japan have dropped to less than 20 percent per year.

7. The ratio of men to women in Japan has always been poor since the end of World War II.

8. The national birth rate has in all essence....collapsed.

What does this mean?

By 2030, Japan will incapable of fielding an effective military to defend herself. By 2060, Japan will be in a death spiral as a nation.

The society and culture many of us considered to be so advanced is actually the very thing that’s killing Japan. Even if the birth rates could be recovered within the next 15 years, Japan will not recover as a nation for two or three generations. As the population ages, we in our life time may see these things happen.

1. Japan will build its first nuclear weapons. It has the equipment in place, it could have its first atomic weapon in 1 year and its first thermonuclear weapon in two. Japan’s self defense force will become highly mechanized and technology driven, it has to be or the nation will be defenseless. It can’t rely on America forever.

2. The end of Japan as a homogeneous society and culture as it would have to bring in foreign workers to maintain an economic system. The purity of Japanese culture would slowly die out.

With robots taking on ever increasing roles, we could be seeing Tezuka’s science fiction becoming a visual fact. Japan is for all purposes a dying nation and sadly much of that falls on the influence of America with their post war culture. In “establishing freedom, truth, justice, mom , apple pie, Disney, pornography, abortion and the American way” we laid the groundwork for Japan’s demise.

This post has so many trigger words in it I don't think I can even begin to formulate a proper response that will abide by the rules of the forum.

In fact, the post itself seems to contain a few biases, that I won't bother to mention in fear of spiraling into a flamewar.

I knew it might cause some tension but facts are facts, even the Japanese themselves are not denying the situation, especially if it continues and leads to the country being unable to field an effective defense force. All of this leads into the speculation that advanced robot technologies may be Japan's only course of action. You can't rely on a population that can't reproduce fast enough to replace the elderly and still have a functioning society.

Facts or not, I'm not sure if this is the best place to have a conversation like this. It's not that anyone here is denying or agreeing with this, the post and subject is so trigger-worded people are GOING to get passionate and inevitably political.

The Japanese are not the only ones in trouble. I am not sure how to put this delicately, but I don't have much faith in humanity all together.
Tenma: Robots are superior to humans. Me: Not going to disagree.

If you would like the post removed as a topic that's alright, it is upsetting to think about especially when one lived there a long time and has a reflective respect to the culture and its long history. Japan's unique homogenious culture was its advantage and yet the deep influence of foreign cultures and the inherent weakness in aspects of her society has worked to endanger her very safety in the future.

Keep in mind that Japan has been the key stone in the Western Pacific and any glint of weakness could cause a violent destabilizing of the whole region given the rising power of China's military elites and the worsening North Korean situation. A reluctant turn to nuclear weapons is simply a logical choice for a nation that realizes the extent of her own peril.

This brings up the point again of Tezuka's far sight and his ability to look at his own time and scope out a progression into a future point. Robots and UAV are one part of a potential saving gap that would give Japan at least a chance to get onto a path to population recovery and they have little precious time to waste. The Atom project may not be so much a dream or myth as we think.

Dan, my "government contract" story on fan fiction came out of these ideas. So did my 2020 story, as well as 'ufo'. The whole scenario as you've described it sounds like the opening of a Tom Clancy novel.

One interesting figure has come out of the diaper manufacturer Unicharm.

It announced last week for the first time ever sales of its adult diapers were larger than those for babies.

But Japan's elderly may have increased economic power now but they know without more children the country is doomed.

The reality of the situation is way beyond any purpose for a novel.

I agree any discussion over this can hardly not be political, and we have a rule over this, so I'm closing the topic.