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Joined 9 months ago
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Cake day: April 5th, 2024

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  • Japan also has a problem much like exists elsewhere, that older voters are the ones who vote most, so their interests and views get disproportionately represented in election results. I’m sure that’s only exaggerated in a country that’s so lopsided in its age distribution as Japan is. I also wouldn’t be surprised at all if it were to turn out that elderly voters tended to be more xenophobic and resistant to changes in immigration policy.

    Japan really needs to get it sorted out soon, though, as they are desperately in need of work in all sorts of fields, but moving there is such a massive pain that it really doesn’t seem worth it unless you live in a developing country where you can go to Japan, do a few years of work and go back with enough money to buy yourself a home. Like, I looked into it for a laugh a month or two ago, and I actually have work experience that would qualify me for a visa as a skilled worker, but there’s no way I would consider going. You could only use it for a maximum of 5 years, it cannot be renewed, as far as I could tell, it also cannot be reapplied for, and it’s ineligible to serve in any capacity for establishing residency. You also cannot bring your family with you. That’s a pretty hard sell for all but the most desperate of people to uproot their lives for, even before you get into Japan’s famously terrible work culture.

    I do understand a certain reluctance towards migration that doesn’t result in cultural assimilation to a fair extent, especially considering how big of an export Japan’s cultural products are, but xenophobic reactions to any possibility of change are going to back Japan into a corner where they have to pick between collapsing as a society, or just opening the floodgates to immigration in a way that will leave them way more susceptible to the sort of massive cultural shift that so many Japanese voters seem to fear. In my layman’s opinion, they would do far better to go about massive work culture reform and allow much more immigration with an immense amount of support for people learning the language and culture, and assistance in integrating into the community. It’ll probably be painful for all involved, but the result of kicking this can down the road perpetually will be far more painful, and they’ll have nobody to blame but themselves.




  • It depends on why they’re laughing for me. Lots of terribly unfunny people essentially provide their own real time laugh track to signal “This is the funny part, laugh please,” which gets old real quick. They also tend to laugh incredibly hard at their own jokes, far more than is merited by the actual joke. Unfunny people trying to force a joke like that get old fast.

    On the other hand, I don’t take issue with having a bit of a laugh with everyone else when you land a good one. On rare occasion, there are even jokes that wind up funnier because they’re just so hilarious that the person telling them can hardly get them out without busting up themselves.