Tokyo funds matchmaking parties to boost birth rate

[Harmony Blue]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/japan/10711847/Tokyo-funds-matchmaking-parties-to-boost-birth-rate.html

The Japanese government is funding matchmaking events in a desperate attempt to boost a birth rate that has halved over the past six decades.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has allocated an additional 3 billion yen (£17.7 million) in this fiscal year’s budget for birthrate-boosting programmes as part of a strategy to reverse the nation’s shrinking population.

Japan is home to one of the fastest ageing societies in the world, with the population shrinking at a record 244,000 in 2013 alone, according to government figures.

The support of marriage - and the active encouragement of young people to settle down - is regarded by government policy-makers as a key strategy for boosting the nation’s birth rate.

As a result, local authorities are now able to apply for central government grants of up to 40 million yen (£237,000) for projects relating to supporting marriage and boosting birth rates, according to Bloomberg.

A lot more career woman are entering the workforce in Japan. so that is one reason why the birth rate is low (the fear of not being able to come back to work after pregnancy is a legit concern for Japanese women too). The other big reason being a lot of men are opting out of the career lifestyle on the other hand. They watched their fathers and grandfathers work grueling hours and die very young. A lot of young Japanese men are opting out of the system and have become Herbivore men instead.

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/foreigners/2009/06/the_herbivores_dilemma.html

This is pretty much the future of all nations of the world. This has implications on how we will govern in the future and our tax structure may see a shakeup. Being single may be a crime in the distant future, which seems like an alien concept to us presently, but in a hundred years or so that may be a reality.