Article

2011-01-11 China-Japan-Koreas

Dad, poor Dad, I've hung you in the closet and I'm feelin' so sad...

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Posted by Fred 2011-01-11 00:00|| || Front Page|| [3 views ] Top

#1 Coming up next, "Weekend at Mitsuo's", followed by local news...

Posted by tu3031 2011-01-11 00:04|| 2011-01-11 00:04|| Front Page Top

#2 Andrew McArthy and Jonathan Silverman were unavailable for comment.

Posted by Lowspark 2011-01-11 03:34|| 2011-01-11 03:34|| Front Page Top

#3 ..."More cases" is right - it's been found (and kept very very quiet by the Japanese) that some of the longest-lived citizens they've been so proud of actually died years ago, and the kids have been cashing the checks.

Mike

Posted by Mike Kozlowski 2011-01-11 09:24|| 2011-01-11 09:24|| Front Page Top

#4 Japan is caught in a weird social condition right now.

To start with, like the US they have a baby boom bubble approaching retirement age, which means an enormous pension bubble has been promised but cannot be delivered.

Likewise, many of their younger people were unable to emulate that combination of prosperity and economic security, even with a good education and willingness to work. Their economy had just changed.

This has meant hundreds of thousands of them (as in the US), are dependent on the prosperity and security of the former generation, not just the boomers, but the elderly generation before them.

But in Japan, agoraphobia has become a lifestyle for many. So much so that many adults, still living with their parents, spend all day in their room in the home, venturing out only at night, to open all night convenience stores.

When their parents die, they are caught out. Many are reliant on their parents pension to survive; others, whose parents had savings enough for a substantial inheritance, still cannot abide the change in the way they live, that would come from reporting their death.

But it is soon to come crashing down around all of them. The boomers will lose their pensions, because they cannot be paid, the otaku, or house dwellers will have to reemerge with the boomers into grinding poverty. Staggeringly high levels of unemployment.

Posted by Anonymoose 2011-01-11 10:07|| 2011-01-11 10:07|| Front Page Top

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