I think most of us have probably seen a fair amount of shonen-jump style anime, if nothing else, and are well aware that the Japanese have a tendency to be slightly chauvinistic at times. Maybe this is rooted in the 1930s 40s, during the pre-war and war periods when the country sought a population boom to spur on economic growth - contraceptive goods and abortion clinics were banned or discouraged under the slogan " “umeyō, fuyaseyō” Let’s give birth! Let’s increase [the size and strength of the nation!]"

Well, interestingly enough, though one might expect such attitudes to become more progressive over time, it seems such an expectation has not (entirely) held true!

Hahah, what a joker. He's kidding, of course!

AYE-AYE SIR! BABY MAKING, GO!

Why, how considerate of you, sir!

BABY MAKING MACHINES

I feel like this could make an LUE debate, but all in all I decided we'd probably all be against this. You know, if not against the idea of having more babies, the statements made to encourage it. Unless Hiei likes 'em preggers :o

I'm especially curious to know what, in explicit detail, our American, Canadian, European, and [insert alternative nationality here] "baby making machines" think about this.

Do your best per head, everybody!

From the forum index topic preview, I half expected the topic title to be "Japanese People Can Be Pretty, Too!"

Then I lol'd.

lol. I prolly should make my topics shorter.

Ivan, stop making fun of them! It's not their fault if the factories didn't make all the machines pretty :(

I expected the same thing that Ivan did. Hehehe.

I pretty much just guessed what the title actually was, 'cause that's what I was thinking at the time.

And yes, it isn't appropriate for him to call them "Machines," but maybe more along the lines of "systems." (Forgot the word I was gonna say, and systesms doesn't work, so it's not funny at all. X_X)

I am not amused. That's all I'm saying. Any more that I could say might be offensive.

That is offensive. Sheesh, I'm Korean, and by blood I should still hold a long standing grudge against them, but that's just downright rude. No one should use that kind of a derogatory term on a female.

Yanagisawa-san? Get a life. Sure, the population decrease is endangering your economy and country, but still. What right do you have to blame that kind of thing on women? Besides that, doesn't it also prove that guys are more or less useless without women?

ZING!

And ya, economic incentives (general policy to encourage birth) are one thing, but a lack of respect for choice and such is another.

Of course, there are other deep seated problems besides sexism in dealing with the economic issue; japanese people want more babies because they don't want to have to increase immigration. Currently less than 1 in 1000 japanese are immigrants.

Oh well. I miss the old prime minister. Koizumi (sp may be wrong) impersonated Elvis and stuff, seemed like a really fun, if weird guy. If he talked about baby making machines, I'd take it as a lighthearted joke with no negative connotations, and assume he didn't understand the implications of it.

Wouldn't that still be kind of messed up though? The isolationism policy is mainly what's killing Japan right now. It's weakening them far more than it should. Still, I can see where they're coming from also. Of course, if they openned their gates, the Muslim would overflow and automatically gain another source of power.

I dunno. I just get really defensive about stuff like that.

I'm sorry, but any country where mothers give their sons head so they get A's is already pretty messed up.

Eh? What do you mean? Why would they be giving their children heads? Heads of what, for that matter? Can you specify a little more please? I'm a little confused....

Uh-- how-- how old are you again?

Perhaps it's better you didn't know.

Oh.... OK, then. I'm turning fifteen in July~! ^_^ I can't wait! I can get a job and get money and stuffs!

Gawd, your innocence is so cute... Cept I'm in a really awkward position when you ask what that stuff means O_o... If you really wanna know.... PM me if you must. Just be warned it's sexual in origin.

I think the japanese are worried about other asian peoples, let alone muslims (then again, I guess there are plenty of muslims in indonesia). And who blames them! Genetic mixing between ethnicities tends to cause......well, bad teeth, that's about it (really, I'm not joking). I guess it depends, though...religion itself is something they seem kinda open about as long as it doesn't restrict their ability to respect shinto gods and stuff, prolly why Christmas is some sorta date holiday as I understand from my bro. Then again, they did kill a bunch of christians when they were more isolationist than they are now :(

They can also use quotas and incentives to target certain groups of immigrants (like, don't let 20% of their nation become muslim immigrants overnight). Clearly they manage deportations pretty well already, or people just don't want to go to japan that much right now, so they shouldn't have to worry too much as long as they manage things carefully.

Anyway, problems or not, it's no excuse for someone to go be a total jerk.

Eww....seriously? How does that even help them? Motivation?

Damn. Egh.

EDIT-Hiyami, ask someone if you want, but I highly suggest you not use google to try to find out.

Yeah, apparently it makes them want to get A's. There are also some teachers that do it to and people are okay with it. I read the article a year or two ago, I'll see if I can't find it.

Then again, I also heard the legal age in japan is 12. I mean, I don't really care if a 16 year old wants to do stuff. In fact, being a teen, it'd be straight up hypocritical to speak against that. But that's just a little too young for sex if you ask me.

But for some reason supporting incest and teacher/student relationships seems slightly more weird.

It's 13 in Japan. You were close.

Bleh, I wouldn't want head from my parents or my teachers. X_________________________________________X

ASIAN! <3

After I saw the pic, I couldn't help but to start ignoring the rest of the article for a while due to some uncontrollable laughing. And japanese people are said to be beautiful.

The thing he said will cool down in a while. Even though I kinda get mad at people wanting to deny equal rights, the whole case seems a bit stupid, and I can't care a lot about it.

Also, about the rest of the stuff you've said: I'm not sure it's that accepted in japanese society. But hell, I'm not that well-versed in japanese culture and stuff.

Edit: And ah...any girls getting mad at me for not caring, please be gentle. I am a male after all.

Mehs. My world is spinning on axis. Is that even spelled right? Somehow, I get the feeling, I just don't want to know. It's just a bad vibe. Er, yeah, think I'm gonna stay away from that particular topic for a while.

Meanie! Meanie! Ist mocking teh Asian-ness?

Anyways, the whole thing is overblown. At some point, I plan to live in Japan, but I'll admit that the screening process is going to be a pain in the rear. I'm almost afraid to...

Not at all. I love asians more than anything else. :)
If I'm ever to marry, it's with an asian girl since they stay pretty for a longer time.

.... Isn't that one of the many stereotypes out there? I'd have to say all Asians look really freaky until they hit the exotic look with the almond eyes and all that. It's one of the weirder stages. Mehs.

I think the one really stupid thing is that...the sexism has actually started to hurt Japan's chances to increase their population. Being demeaned makes 'em less happy with being amicable and accepting a need for procreation. I was doing this as part of a project, and another statistic (based on poll so not perfect) indicated that 76% of single women didn't think of Japan as a good country to raise children. This was a study in some magazine, though.

As commented in the article: