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Entrepreneur Hiroyuki (Hiroyuki Nishimura) posted his views on the declining birthrate on X on October 31. He argued that “people who flatly declare countermeasures for the falling birthrate impossible are dodging the real debate over whether it should be overcome,” citing the fact that the Showa era had many children as evidence. The post drew 40 responses on 5ch’s “Geinou/Sports News+” board, where opinions split over whether the Showa-era baby boom was truly the result of policy, or simply a product of different social structures — like arranged marriages and women’s lack of economic independence. Plenty of commenters also argued that countermeasures themselves are pointless, pointing to the effectiveness of cash handouts and the way AI is reshaping labor demand.
Hiroyuki pushes back against people who flatly declare birthrate countermeasures “impossible” — “Showa had an era with plenty of kids, you know”
Entrepreneur Hiroyuki Nishimura (Hiroyuki), 49, updated his X (formerly Twitter) account on the 31st, laying out his views on measures to combat the declining birthrate.
Hiroyuki posted: “A lot of people talking about birthrate countermeasures are just describing the current situation while dodging the real question of whether it should be overcome. There was an era in Showa Japan when there were plenty of kids, yet people just look at today and flatly declare it impossible.”
Source: news.yahoo.co.jp / Original article here
What people said
It's what threw the balance between generations out of whack.
Suddenly cranking births back up now would just throw it even further off balance.
It'd just create other problems.
Saying birthrate countermeasures are impossible isn't necessarily wrong.
If it ever does get solved, it won't be thanks to any policy — it'll just happen naturally.
There's no going back now, so it's hopeless.
For starters, it hyped up romance and looking attractive to the opposite sex so much that it raised the bar too high.
People aren't marrying or having kids even without one clear main reason, which makes it hard to fix.
If the problem were obvious, it would've been solved long ago.
Even if Hiroyuki thinks it's a money problem, there's no telling if that's actually true.
Looks like another war might be brewing soon too, so maybe a postwar baby boom isn't far off. Whether Japan as a country will still be around by then is another question.
Giving money to families who only have the time and energy to raise one kid, or families who are happy with just one, isn't going to increase the numbers.
They should be studying Israel closely — its birthrate is close to 3.
There's no turning back to Showa now.
Make it actually profitable instead of just a subsidy.
The state wants more workers, right?
Come on.
That group staying unmarried is what's really driving today's low birthrate.
Above-average earners aren't having fewer kids.
I wonder if people realize that's basically saddling the kid with a debt from birth.
If anything, they were trying to slow it down.
The truth is, this country has zero track record of birthrate countermeasures actually working.
Sure, there were lots of kids, but then there was a huge wave of late-life divorces — forcing people to marry really isn't the answer.
people weren't having kids because of government policy.
Welfare Minister Jozaburo Niiki is pushing a postwar policy to curb population growth.
But just then, his wife gets pregnant — kicking off a string of "good news" surprises involving his sons, daughters, and even his own father.
On top of that, rumors surface that Jozaburo himself has a secret child, throwing the whole Niiki family into chaos.
Set around a family championing the population issue, one unexpected uproar after another unfolds…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0_goJFAfKI
What's needed now is AI, and humans are becoming unnecessary.
We're heading into an age where most people, desk workers included, won't be needed.
It'd be weirder if the birthrate *didn't* fall in times like these.
That's why having ten siblings wasn't even unusual.
In today's world overflowing with entertainment, it's hopeless.
The only way to fix it now would be a meteor strike or a war that burns everything to ash.
Not having a pension system was a big factor too.
Poor, undereducated families with lots of kids have always been dysfunctional in all sorts of ways — it was just misery reproducing itself.
Young people do have money.
It's not that they can't afford it —
they're just pouring that money into this instead.
That kind of era is coming soon.
AI taking over is a fantasy.
It needs enormous amounts of electricity and energy — where exactly is that supposed to come from?
Background and Key Points of This Debate
A point raised repeatedly in the thread was that it’s a mistake to view the high birthrate of the Showa era as “the result of population policy.” In reality, the backdrop was differences in social structure — forced arranged marriages, women’s lack of economic independence, and the absence of entertainment options or a pension system — rather than the state actively pursuing policies to boost births. In fact, there was even a period after the war when population control was discussed out of concern over overpopulation, and commenters cited a satirical film/drama depicting the policies of that era. Opinions split between those who see the main cause of the low birthrate as “lack of economic room” and those who see it as “diversifying values and entertainment options” — the two sides simply started from different premises about what should be addressed. Rather than debating Hiroyuki’s “don’t jump to conclusions” remark itself, the discussion’s center of gravity shifted toward comparing just how different social conditions are between the Showa era and today.</parameter>
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※This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Geinou/Sports News+) thread “Hiroyuki pushes back against people who flatly declare birthrate countermeasures “impossible” — “Showa had an era with plenty of kids, yet people just decide it’s impossible based on the current situation”.”
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