BBC Article Causes Internet Uproar in Japan

Picture courtesy of ARuto (Hikikomoris Mind)


An article written by BBC’s Robin Lustig titled “Is Japan A Dying Nation?” that discusses Japan’s diminishing population and growing trend in elderly people put forth a theory that its caused by its otaku culture. He’s full statement is as follows:

I’m no social psychologist, so I wouldn’t dare to come up with an explanation for why Japanese couples aren’t having enough babies. But one theory is that Japanese women are increasingly reluctant to marry, because they think Japanese men have shown themselves unable to adapt to the needs of a new, more flexible society - and have retreated into a fantasy world of comics, video games and animated pornography where they feel less threatened. [BBC]

As expected, the Japanese media jumped on the article and has resulted in many Japanese netizens posting their views and opinion loudly all over the internet, the most notable discussion took place on a popular Japanese imageboard, 2chan with over 2,500 comments now!



Some of their comments does appear to have merit while others are rather quizzical. Here’s some of the comments that stood out:

-Make reality more interesting than games please.
-Yeah I can live on games alone.
-If everybody became obsessed with games then we would live in a peaceful society.
-Reality does not want to deal with me you idiot.
-The world in the monitor is reality. The world we live in is just imaginary.
-To be honest, I don’t want a (real) woman.
-People don’t get married because they know that life is over when they do.
-I’m too busy with work to think about getting married.
-Getting married and having kids is happiness?
-But the 2D world is ideal.
-Not sure about England but the hurdle to getting married over the past 20 years in Japan is gone up too high - socially and financially.
-We must fight reality!
-A country of Neets (England) being worried about Japan?
-Girls in games wont cheat on us.
-The solution is to make reality in games.
-Solution is simple - make it so that anime and manga characters can get pregnant.
[Danny Choo]

Some people have also raised the view that an overpopulated country like Japan having a decreasing population isn’t all that bad. However, I do believe the financial side of starting up a family in Japan does play a bigger role in this issue than their Otaku culture, but getting a bit of fresh air instead of staring at a monitor all day wouldn’t do any harm either.


In the end, as long as we take all things in moderation, there shouldn’t be a problem at all.


Source:
Danny Choo via Kotaku

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