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Global Bellwether: Japan's Social Depression

Tyler Durden's picture




 

Submitted by Charles Hugh-Smith of OfTwoMinds blog,

Beneath the surface wealth of bullet trains, cute robots and exuberant fashions, this is the Japan few outsiders understand: the one gripped by a deepening social depression.
 

This week I've highlighted the structural flaws of using GDP as a measure of "growth" and prosperity: GDP = Waste and What Metric Are We Optimizing For?
 
The conventional metrics of "growth" and prosperity have another fatal flaw: they do not recognize, much less measure, social depression, the social costs of economic stagnation and wealth inequality driven by financialization.
 
The term social recession has two distinct meanings: around 2000, the term was used to describe the erosion of social cohesion via the decline of institutions such as marriage and the rise of social problems such as teen pregnancy.
 
Many commentators pinned this erosion of social constraints and bonds on rampant individualism and overstimulated consumerism, while others pointed to urbanization, the commodification of child care, and women entering the workforce en masse to prop up household incomes. Poverty was explicitly rejected as a causal factor, hence the term "social recession."
This concept of social recession was aptly described by Robert E. Lane, author of the 2001 book The Loss of Happiness in Market Democracies:
 

There is a kind of famine of warm interpersonal relations, of easy-to-reach neighbors, of encircling, inclusive memberships, and of solidary family life... . For people lacking in social support of this kind, unemployment has more serious effects, illnesses are more deadly, disappointment with one's children is harder to bear, bouts of depression last longer, and frustration and failed expectations of all kinds are more traumatic.

I use the term social recession to describe a very different phenomenon: the social and cultural consequences of structurally stagnant economies such as Japan, Europe and the U.S. I have defined and used social recession in this way since 2010: The Non-Financial Cost of Stagnation: "Social Recession" and Japan's "Lost Generations" (August 9, 2010)
 
Here are the conditions that characterize social recession:
 
1. High expectations of endless rising prosperity have been instilled in generations of citizens as a birthright.
 
2. Part-time and unemployed people are marginalized, not just financially but socially.
 
3. Widening income/wealth disparity as those in the top 10% pull away from the shrinking middle class.
 
4. A systemic decline in social/economic mobility as it becomes increasingly difficult to move from dependence on the state (welfare) or one's parents to financial independence.
 
5. A widening disconnect between higher education and employment: a college/university degree no longer guarantees a stable, good-paying job.
 
6. A failure in the Status Quo institutions and mainstream media to recognize social recession as a reality.
 
7. A systemic failure of imagination within state and private-sector institutions on how to address social recession issues.
 
8. The abandonment of middle class aspirations by the generations ensnared by the social recession: young people no longer aspire to (or cannot afford) consumerist status symbols such as luxury autos or homeownership.
 
9. A generational abandonment of marriage, families and independent households as these are no longer affordable to those with part-time or unstable employment, i.e. what I have termed (following Jeremy Rifkin) the end of work.
 
10. A loss of hope in the young generations as a result of the above conditions.
 
At some threshold of structural denial, social recession becomes social depression: a black hole of deteriorating social mobility and opportunity for the younger generations.
 
I have covered these topics in depth for many years:
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
What I want to focus on is the willful blindness of official metrics such as GDP, household wealth and unemployment to the realities of social depression, and how these metrics can continue to register gains while the younger generations of workers sink deeper and deeper into full-blown social depression.
 
Japan has been running a 25-year long experiment in precisely this dynamic:obliterating official recognition with metrics designed to ignore the inconvenient realities of social depression. Beneath the surface wealth of Japan, homeless encampments are expanding even as opportunities for young workers decline.
 
If the protected class that currently reaps most of the benefits of the Status Quo and owns most of the household wealth becomes even wealthier, this is logged by official metrics as "expansion," i.e. prosperity, even when this "prosperity" is limited to the financial/political Elites and the Upper Caste of the Japanese economy--what another author calls the Clerisy classAmerica's new class system (the Clerisy class).
 
The Clerisy Class is not unique to America; every structurally stagnant economy is being strangled by its protected Upper Caste.
 
The Status Quo also masks these realities with tsunamis of upbeat consumerist propaganda. In Japan, this propaganda manifests as ceaseless media coverage of young people with enough time and disposable income to indulge in absurdly exaggerated fashions and fads.
 
If all this is new to you, I strongly recommend you read my essay The Non-Financial Cost of Stagnation: "Social Recession" and Japan's "Lost Generations" (August 9, 2010).
 
Here are a few highlights:
 
-- Once-egalitarian Japan is becoming a nation of haves and have-nots
 
-- More than one-third of the workforce is part-time as companies have shed the famed Japanese lifetime employment system.
 
-- The slang word "freeter" (for part-time worker) combines the English "free" and the German "arbeiter" or worker.
 
-- A typical "freeter" wage is 1,000 yen ($9.20) an hour.
 
-- As long ago as 2001, The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare estimated that 50 percent of high school graduates and 30 percent of college graduates now quit their jobs within three years of leaving school.
 
-- Japan's slump has lasted so long, a "New Lost Generation" is coming of age, joining Japan's first "Lost Generation" which graduated into the bleak job market of the 1990s.
 
-- These trends have led to an ironic moniker for the Freeter lifestyle: Dame-Ren (No Good People). The Dame-Ren (pronounced dah-may-ren) get by on odd jobs, low-cost living and drastically diminished expectations.
 
-- Many young men now reject the macho work ethic and related values of their fathers. These "herbivores" reject the traditonal Samurai ideal of masculinity. Derisively called "herbivores" or "Grass-eaters," these young men are uncompetitive and uncommitted to work, evidence of their deep disillusionment with Japan's troubled economy.
 
-- These shifts have spawned a disconnect between genders so pervasive that Japan is experiencing a "social recession" in marriage, births, and even sex, all of which are declining.
 
-- The trend of never leaving home has sparked an almost tragicomical countertrend ofJapanese parents who actively seek mates to marry off their "parasite single" offspring as the only way to get them out of the house.
 
-- An even more extreme social disorder is Hikikomori, or "acute social withdrawal," a condition in which the young live-at-home person will virtually wall themselves off from the world by never leaving their room.
 
Is it any wonder that in the face of such a bleak and maladaptive future, young people seek identity, community and solace in a fantasy world of fashion? When an economy is dominated by a Savior State that issues unsustainable promises, and a society is dependent on a consumerist frenzy of fads, status signifiers and shopping for identity and what passes for community, then narcissism, restless emptiness and the aloneness described in The Hidden Cost of the "New Economy": New-Type Depression are the inevitable results.
 
Beneath the surface wealth of bullet trains, cute robots and exuberant fashions, this is the Japan few outsiders understand: the one gripped by a deepening social depression.
 
Japan is the global bellwether in social depression, and we can already see the same symptoms and official panic to mask these symptoms in Europe, China and the U.S.

 

 

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Thu, 09/25/2014 - 13:32 | 5256411 RattNRoll
RattNRoll's picture

Was born in the wrong era.....fml

Thu, 09/25/2014 - 13:43 | 5256455 pods
pods's picture

I think I would have to go to confession if I was to partake in some of that cartoon fairytale choose your own adventure role playing.

That would be like a Disney character buffet where the help is on the menu.

I Dream of Genie all over again.  "Anything else I can do for you, master?"

pods

Thu, 09/25/2014 - 13:45 | 5256478 LFMayor
LFMayor's picture

ROFL!   I'd have the 3 good fairies work some magic on me.  All of them, especially the fat one.

Thu, 09/25/2014 - 14:12 | 5256574 Yes We Can. But...
Yes We Can. But Lets Not.'s picture

I've lived in Japan.  Japan's main problem - it is too crowded.  128MM in a country smaller than just one of the 50 US states - California.  You put too many rats in a cage, they start chewing on each other, basically exhibit chronic social stress.  Same with us apes.  Natures way of inducing the creatures to spread out, establish there own territories, but in Japan's case they got nowhere to go.

Thu, 09/25/2014 - 14:19 | 5256632 Doña K
Doña K's picture

Japan worked! The work ethic, homogeniuty, strong customs and family ties as well as tolerance in adversity made that country great and prosperous. Cometh the politics and the banking sector to destroy it all in a short time period. As I have spent some very happy years in Japan, I feel for them. Now is time to feel for the American youth and their bleak future.

Thu, 09/25/2014 - 14:43 | 5256733 0b1knob
0b1knob's picture

< US criticizes Japan for lack of economic growth, nihilistic consumerism, narcissism, part time job economy, and widespread depression.

< Pot calls kettle black.

Thu, 09/25/2014 - 14:54 | 5256810 somecallmetimmah
somecallmetimmah's picture

Please keep in mind, the Japanese are natural-born freaks.........and now they're all going to die.

Thu, 09/25/2014 - 15:00 | 5256835 SilverRhino
SilverRhino's picture

Many young men now reject the macho work ethic and related values of their fathers. These "herbivores" reject the traditonal Samurai ideal of masculinity. Derisively called "herbivores" or "Grass-eaters," these young men are uncompetitive and uncommitted to work, evidence of their deep disillusionment with Japan's troubled economy.

Apparently.  These guys pretty much reject women flat out.   No children equals a demographic implosion.  Place will be a Chinese Hawaii in 100 years.

Go long robot workforces in Japan.

 Cape Buffalo is a herbivore (and something you probably dont want to fuck with) too. 

Thu, 09/25/2014 - 18:21 | 5257651 Flagit
Flagit's picture

 

Place will be a Chinese Hawaii in 100 years.

 

Um, no. In 100 years the leaked reactor contamination will make the entire island uninhabitable.

Thu, 09/25/2014 - 19:18 | 5257849 The Alarmist
The Alarmist's picture

Problem is that they stopped reproducing in adequate numbers to keep growth up, and they are not pumping up the labour force with imports (immigrants) in any meaningful way; in some respects, this lets Japan "gracefully degrade," to use an old nuclear-war term. By contrast, the US and Europe seem to think they can goose growth by importing new bodies from the third world, but they tend to end up with low-skilled, low-motivation bodies whose talents seem to be best oriented to criminal enterprises and dependency, which leaves them facing a future of catastrophic degradation.  The Japanese way seems a bit more humane.

Thu, 09/25/2014 - 21:30 | 5258250 DipshitMiddleCl...
DipshitMiddleClassWhiteKid's picture

yup, most of the imported immigrant population to the EU are muds (non-whites) who are incapable of doing anything other than eating food and reproducing.

Thu, 09/25/2014 - 16:08 | 5257124 Antifaschistische
Antifaschistische's picture

I kept waiting for this article to note that the two in the attached picture were actually Japanese Boys.

Thu, 09/25/2014 - 19:24 | 5257865 The Alarmist
The Alarmist's picture

Super Kawaii .... unlike Thai, doesn't look like there is any chance of that.

Thu, 09/25/2014 - 13:51 | 5256513 thunderchief
thunderchief's picture

If they are up for adoption, can you have them both?

Thu, 09/25/2014 - 13:57 | 5256537 LFMayor
LFMayor's picture

careful man, "papa" woody allen got in trouble that way!

Thu, 09/25/2014 - 13:33 | 5256412 Bryan
Bryan's picture

It's slowly happening here in the USA too.

Thu, 09/25/2014 - 13:50 | 5256505 Freddie
Freddie's picture

Slowly?   Many idiots are in denial.  Cheering on whole new wars because Tv tells them too.

Thu, 09/25/2014 - 14:15 | 5256612 Buckaroo Banzai
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John Calhoun was a behavioral researcher who did studies on rat colonies. He called this phenomenon a "behavioral sink."

"With no predators and with exposure to disease kept at a minimum, Calhoun described his experimental universes as "rat utopia," "mouse paradise." With all their visible needs met, the animals bred rapidly. The only restriction Calhoun imposed on his population was of space--and as the population grew, this became increasingly problematic. As the pens heaved with animals, one of his assistants described rodent "utopia" as having become "hell." (2)

Males became aggressive, some moving in groups, attacking females and the young. Mating behaviors were disrupted. Some males became exclusively homosexual. Others became pansexual and hypersexual, attempting to mount any rat they encountered. Mothers neglected their infants, first failing to construct proper nests, and then carelessly abandoning and even attacking their pups. In certain sections of the pens, infant mortality rose as high as 96%, the dead can nibalized by adults. Subordinate animals withdrew psychologically, surviving in a physical sense but at an immense psychological cost. They were the majority in the late phases of growth, existing as a vacant, huddled mass in the centre of the pens. Unable to breed, the population plummeted and did not recover. The crowded rodents had lost the ability to co-exist harmoniously, even after the population numbers once again fell to low levels. At a certain density, they had ceased to act like rats and mice, and the change was permanent."

http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Escaping+the+Laboratory%3a+the+rodent+expe...

Thu, 09/25/2014 - 14:37 | 5256708 Socratic Dog
Socratic Dog's picture

I guess we're smarter, we don't need to eat our young, we abort them.

Thu, 09/25/2014 - 14:47 | 5256754 JuliaS
JuliaS's picture

"...they had ceased to act like rats and mice..."

Let me guess. They started wearing top hats and walking upright.

Thu, 09/25/2014 - 16:00 | 5257099 GeezerGeek
GeezerGeek's picture

Someone can write a book comparing the mice in the experiment with Japan. It could be called something like "Of Mice and Men". Oops, that's been taken. Need something else. Interestingly, the book of that name by Steinbeck dealt with a depression, too.

Thu, 09/25/2014 - 16:26 | 5257205 JuliaS
JuliaS's picture

Or they could write a graphic novel about the modern day America and call it "Maus"... oh wait. They, sort of, did.

Thu, 09/25/2014 - 16:59 | 5257355 DeusHedge
DeusHedge's picture

What if they threw a pink elephant in? :3

Thu, 09/25/2014 - 20:48 | 5258138 mjcOH1
mjcOH1's picture

""...they had ceased to act like rats and mice..."

Let me guess. They started wearing top hats and walking upright."

 

They wore their little rat pants around their knees.

Thu, 09/25/2014 - 15:03 | 5256851 Gene Parmesan
Gene Parmesan's picture

Fascinating.

Thu, 09/25/2014 - 15:49 | 5257060 SilverRhino
SilverRhino's picture

We're living this now even in the US.

  • Mating behaviors were disrupted.
    • Already happened.  This is called feminism and the sexual revolution
  • Some males became exclusively homosexual.
    • Homosexuality is up  
  • Others became pansexual and hypersexual, attempting to mount any rat they encountered.
    • PUA and sluts
  • Mothers neglected their infants, first failing to construct proper nests, and then carelessly abandoning and even attacking their pups.
    • Has definitely already happened
  • Subordinate animals withdrew psychologically, surviving in a physical sense but at an immense psychological cost.
    • MGTOW and Social ghosts

 

Thu, 09/25/2014 - 21:31 | 5258256 DipshitMiddleCl...
DipshitMiddleClassWhiteKid's picture

indeed, it's VERY true.

 

 

Fri, 09/26/2014 - 04:23 | 5258922 mkkby
mkkby's picture

Yep, look at how all the young people have withdrawn into video games, social media/texting, TV and drugs.  Bascially the same thing as hiding in a closed in your parent's basement. 

Society is becoming more and more insane as the population crowds into smaller and smaller spaces, with no productive work to be done.

Thu, 09/25/2014 - 16:04 | 5257114 somecallmetimmah
somecallmetimmah's picture

Yet my progressive better openly ponder, "why would ANYONE want to own a FIREARM?"  Why, indeed.

Thu, 09/25/2014 - 19:09 | 5257811 Laddie
Laddie's picture

Overpopulation in the United States will become THE single greatest issue facing Americans in the 21st century. We either solve it proactively or nature will solve it brutally for us via water shortages, energy crisis, air pollution, gridlock, species extinction and worse.

U.S. population will double from 300 million to 600 million on its way to 1 billion in the lifetime of a child born today if we fail to change course.

Frosty Wooldridge 2000

Fri, 09/26/2014 - 07:55 | 5259122 Lea
Lea's picture

Unfortunately, there's a smidge of a problem here. In the middle ages, major cities, even though they were less populated than nowadays, were more overcrowded because of the lack of urban planning.

You had house upon house, a maze of extremely narrow, muddy streets, no garbage disposal systems, sometimes no sewers either; yet none of the effects described by Calhoun happened. Humans are not rats. These effects for humans are caused by other factors, for instance the dehumanization brought by the consumerist culture of narcissism (the "me" culture). Another factor is the groupthink induced by advertising-induced fads. For instance, there was this brand of lubricating gel that had this ad, where a girl sang about "putting whatever she wanted in herself" pointing to cucumbers, apples, one male work colleague, more fruit and veggies, etc. Under the guise of fun and feministic freedom, that ad was selling emotional loneliness, sexual misery and hatred for males. How many feminists fall for such cons?

And how many males fall for porn, a major cause of emotional loneliness and paradoxical sexual void?

Thu, 09/25/2014 - 13:32 | 5256414 LFMayor
LFMayor's picture

I have dishonored my family, by viewing bukkake pron and reading comics where dogs talk and get it on with big-eyed chicks in zero gravity.

Alas, "Blade Runner", but you're not going to come to pass.

Bellweather, my ass.   We killed 80% of their real meat-eaters.  Same thing happened to western Europe.  Diluted the gene pool, all that are left are femen.

Soon we'll see some banner adds for Kimiko.com,  date your Japanese dream gurl.

Thu, 09/25/2014 - 13:34 | 5256419 Ban KKiller
Ban KKiller's picture

Sounds like the kids have joined the FSA...

Thu, 09/25/2014 - 13:36 | 5256430 LFMayor
LFMayor's picture

You know brother, you're on to something with that.   These people have no fucking idea of what a Real dependent underclass looks like!  We need to ship in a couple of section-8 "starter sets" to some of their larger cities.  Then they'l understand, and quit this fucking belly-aching about how bad they've got it.

We could start by putting Gary Indiana and Ferguson Missouri into some shipping containers and sending them to Hiroshima and Nagasaki.  And you thought the last two fucking bombs we dropped were bad...

Thu, 09/25/2014 - 13:43 | 5256461 pods
pods's picture

Too beaucoup.

Thu, 09/25/2014 - 13:49 | 5256502 MrPalladium
MrPalladium's picture

+100,000,000,000!!!

Brilliant!!

Thu, 09/25/2014 - 13:33 | 5256424 eyesofpelosi
eyesofpelosi's picture

Uhg, now I'm really depressed.

Thu, 09/25/2014 - 13:35 | 5256426 madcows
madcows's picture

I agree with 8 and 9.  Although, I'd say the hopelessness is caused by crushing inflation and stagnant wages.  A working man's income doesn't do much more than support a single person in a rental unit, eating ramen noodles.  Forget a family or a house.  The only way those things are possible is to go on the government dole and get it paid for by the working stiff.  Its today's version of indentured servants, slave labor and the caste system.  There's the extremely wealthy, and then there's everyone else.

Thu, 09/25/2014 - 13:38 | 5256432 LFMayor
LFMayor's picture

Hey man,  Hiro still knows him some sushi.  Only the fucking sultan of Burnai can freakin afford it though.

Thu, 09/25/2014 - 13:57 | 5256540 Almost Solvent
Almost Solvent's picture

Eat sushi?

 

Watch out for these suckers!

Thu, 09/25/2014 - 13:38 | 5256434 Yen Cross
Yen Cross's picture

  If all my ( ¥) was Corzined by 1/2 it value in a little over (2) years I'd be pretty fucking depressed to...

Thu, 09/25/2014 - 13:38 | 5256436 Duffy
Duffy's picture

Ok - sure, but I don't think Japan is particularly worse off than the US.

People are fucking like crazy and shitting out kids like its going out of style in the US....  not actually a good thing.

The Japanese largely live with their elders and take care of them.

We dump them in homes, give them pointless drugs and surgeries and give the bill to deeply indebted young workers.

 

I don;t know if better fuck robots would make it all better, but it couldn't hurt.

Thu, 09/25/2014 - 13:41 | 5256446 Yen Cross
Yen Cross's picture

  That's one thing you do have to respect the Japanese for. They respect their elders, and take care of them.

Thu, 09/25/2014 - 13:57 | 5256548 cornflakesdisease
cornflakesdisease's picture

This trend is now in decline.

Thu, 09/25/2014 - 17:58 | 5257567 Son of Loki
Son of Loki's picture

Duffy, if they abolished those Federal tax credits and rebates, you may get a decrease in the poop peeples are popping out all over the place.

Fri, 09/26/2014 - 00:58 | 5258736 Fiat Envy
Fiat Envy's picture

Our elders are the Baby Boomers.  They don't deserve respect or care.  Well most of them anyway.

Thu, 09/25/2014 - 13:42 | 5256454 madcows
madcows's picture

actually, the birthrate among americans is declining.  The current depression has severely impacted marriage and birth rates.  It's part of the reason why the Repugs and Dems are doing all they can to bring in illegal immigrants. To them, more people means more workers which means more taxes.

Thu, 09/25/2014 - 13:44 | 5256463 LFMayor
LFMayor's picture

Hey, william wallace, how'd your big scottish OWS vote for freedom go?

Oh no man, it up and blew the bearded bagpipe, didn't it!

Thu, 09/25/2014 - 13:56 | 5256544 cornflakesdisease
cornflakesdisease's picture

If Scotland were independant, they'd have their own central bank.

Thu, 09/25/2014 - 13:48 | 5256496 suteibu
suteibu's picture

Actually, the multi-generational household is dying out, particularly in rural areas which the kids abandon for cities.  Something like 75% of the population lives in urban Japan leaving the rural community demographics constantly growing older.  Those areas are literally dying out.

The unintended (?) societal consequences of the welfare state promise of cradle-to-grave care and the forced urbanization of the nation.

Thu, 09/25/2014 - 13:55 | 5256533 cornflakesdisease
cornflakesdisease's picture

No, I don't see anyone, including minorities having near the number of kids they used to.  Blacks abort their babies more so then any other minority in the US.  Only middle eastern people have large families.  Most Spanish folks have 2 or 3 max.  In fact, all the people I know with large familes, are pretty well off and can afford a larger family.

Thu, 09/25/2014 - 16:03 | 5257109 Blankenstein
Blankenstein's picture

You must not get out much or read large city newspapers because the opposite is happening.  Educated people aren't the ones breeding.  

Fri, 09/26/2014 - 01:09 | 5257756 MeelionDollerBogus
MeelionDollerBogus's picture

wellll sheeeet.

How else is they supposed to get the electrolytes.

Fri, 09/26/2014 - 06:40 | 5259029 cornflakesdisease
cornflakesdisease's picture

Live in Houston.  My wife's side of the family is all Spanish.

Her grandmother had 25 kids (7 sets of twins).  She outlived 15 of them. 

Her mother had two children as did all here siblings ( one had 3, several had none)

My wife had none as did her sister.

The grandchildren have had no kids yet.  None of them and most are in the 20's now).

Kids are liabilities and most people don't have time for them in today's society.

Additionally, the Spanish side of the family dislikes illigal immigration, people who live on the dole, and basically view themselves as white folks with another language.

You don't seem to get out much. 

 

Thu, 09/25/2014 - 13:39 | 5256438 starman
starman's picture

Guess who's next? 

Thu, 09/25/2014 - 13:40 | 5256449 LFMayor
LFMayor's picture

Liberia?

Thu, 09/25/2014 - 15:14 | 5256899 madcows
madcows's picture

I dunno, who?

Thu, 09/25/2014 - 13:40 | 5256447 Joebloinvestor
Joebloinvestor's picture

Japanese are just more reluctant to accept their government LIES and is incompetent.

They will until they are dying of radiation sickness.

Thu, 09/25/2014 - 13:41 | 5256448 Elliptico
Elliptico's picture

The in-your-face two-tiered justice system.

Thu, 09/25/2014 - 13:42 | 5256451 earnulf
earnulf's picture

I really don't think you understand Japanese culture at all.    You can't frame on outlier and claim it applies to everyone, just like you can't say all Americans are lazy, good for nothing, unresponsible slobs.

There is a great deal of "soul searching" going on across the board and a lot of confusion with conflicting inputs that are difficult, if not impossible, to sort out.

What makes a person, human?    Religion?   Work?   Social?    Interests and experiences?    How can a person who has never been made to feel less, understand what its like to feel that way everyday, for no reason than the color of your skin, the way your face looks or the clothes you have.     Can someone who has worked every day of thier life, understand the person who can't hold a job more than a month?

Even walking in another shoes, doesn't give the full picture and the wear and tear daily life has for some.   Fortitude is given in mixed measures to folks, some get a lot, some get a little.   And even those who have it, don't always use it.

Japan was ruled with "Might makes Right", were forced by NON-Japanese to open up their culture, were marginalized by those same NON-Japanese and when they pushed back, were eventually trounced, atomically.     They survived, but they are no closer to the Samaurai of old than we are to our ancestors.    They are a product of what came next, a victim of their own success and over-exhuberance and they are adrift in space, trying to find their katra, their soul.

I agree that more of this is coming, to more countries, but I think War will come first and the survivors will become tempered like steel.

Thu, 09/25/2014 - 14:03 | 5256573 Herd Redirectio...
Herd Redirection Committee's picture

Basically, for Japan, the dropping of the Atomic Bombs was the Apocalypse.  So they aren't waiting for the Apocalypse in the same way we are.  They are in a 'Post-Apocalyptic' daze already!  This is why some of the best 'post-Apocalyptic' anime etc comes from Japan.

Thu, 09/25/2014 - 14:35 | 5256703 Fuku Ben
Fuku Ben's picture

It's not a daze so much as it is the willingness to escape the reality around us and live in an illusion and in constant denial.

This is really no different in the east than the West. The world is being run by Satanists that are globally implementing their vision for the future of the planet. There are quite a few that willingly join up.

People find alternate ways to express themselves in the east that you don't find in the west because it is more acceptable to speak out in the west. Here you get smashed down. So you have truthers in the west and less vocal means in the east like anime. In a way one of my previous comments applies here too. When a society can or won't allow you to express yourself without reprisal you find alternative ways and means of doing so. The crazy sick porn that comes out of here is one example.

The truth is that humanity allows for a full range of emotions. And you aren't going to see love, compassion, true happiness in a satanist world. Until they're stopped we can all expect misery, death, destruction, control, monitoring and slavery to continue to get worse.

The ironic thing is that when the willing minions have served their purpose for the satanist scum they will be rewarded with death.

Thu, 09/25/2014 - 16:56 | 5257350 Lin S
Lin S's picture

"The truth is that humanity allows for a full range of emotions. And you aren't going to see love, compassion, true happiness in a satanist world. Until they're stopped we can all expect misery, death, destruction, control, monitoring and slavery to continue to get worse."

Quote of the Day, epic.  +1000

Thu, 09/25/2014 - 14:55 | 5256815 exi1ed0ne
exi1ed0ne's picture

Yup.  WWII ripped the soul out of the nation.  Their problem is pretty much the same as our problem - no hope anymore for something better tomorrow.  When you stop dreaming, you stop living and just exist.

Thu, 09/25/2014 - 15:36 | 5257003 NotApplicable
NotApplicable's picture

Same as everyone. False authority syndrome, leading to mass delusion.

Thu, 09/25/2014 - 16:44 | 5257296 JuliaS
JuliaS's picture

I follow Alexander Bard - a self-proclaimed internet sociologist. Although he does not talk about Japan specifically, he signifies the age of the internet as a new existence that breaks up the established concept of what is means to be human. The last time the metaphisical definition was re-worked in the 1700's during the indusrial revolution, where power began rapidly shifting away from religious and political leaders towards industrialists.

People, for a while, felt like the world was coming to an end. A lot of soul searching was going on with plenty of historic diaries to back that up. A new definition of a man and an individual had to be written to support seemingly joyless life within concrete walls etc.

Bard explains that the information age, once again, forces us to re-evaluate what it means to be human. Social interactions are changing. Old jobs are vanishing with new ones taking their place. Absolutely everything we do is different today because of the internet and it's going to keep progressing into areas unknown. Japan, being a technological prodigy, is ahead of the curve - experiencing what is yet to come for the rest of us. Unfortunately, the neo-existence does not look appealing or desirable. They seem to have peaked and are now in permanent state of decline.

New metaphisics, instead of helping people cope with reality, allows them to avoid it.

I remember playing a computer game from mid-90's about a predominantly virtual world where people spent most of their lives. One phrase from still resonates with me: "Reality is where people go when they die".

Thu, 09/25/2014 - 13:42 | 5256457 lasvegaspersona
lasvegaspersona's picture

...it will get better as things get worse...

Now people think the rest of the world is doing better than them and they feel inferior. Once they see the whole world is in a mess folks will feel better, relatively.

Thu, 09/25/2014 - 13:43 | 5256459 rwe2late
rwe2late's picture

Similarly, in the US, many young people are unemployed or underemployed,

still living with parents well into their twenties,

and apparently seek "solace in a fantasy world" of videogaming (Call of Duty etc.)

Thu, 09/25/2014 - 16:45 | 5257305 JuliaS
JuliaS's picture

"Recall of Duty".

Thu, 09/25/2014 - 18:44 | 5257728 MeelionDollerBogus
MeelionDollerBogus's picture

A lot of the ones who are working are doing the same.

Thu, 09/25/2014 - 13:44 | 5256469 Oldwood
Oldwood's picture

Depression follows addiction. The addiction to prosperity fueled by something for nothing. Satisfaction and contentment come from productive behaviors, not free shit, be it food stamp or a stock portfolio doubling in value. 

Thu, 09/25/2014 - 13:52 | 5256519 p00k1e
p00k1e's picture

Hmmm….  So paying water bills for the Detroit Dead-Beaters Association is unright? 

Thu, 09/25/2014 - 14:31 | 5256680 Oldwood
Oldwood's picture

People try to fill the whole in their life with money or the shit money buys, or through good works for others. The problem is that these good works and the elevated self worth attached are done with other people's money. Wouldn't it be grand if those of such generous heart did their good works with their own money. Even when we see celebrities advancing their causes, rather than use their own money they instead implore the rest of us to contribute while advancing their own popularity and fame AND wealth. 

Thu, 09/25/2014 - 13:44 | 5256473 Itchy and Scratchy
Itchy and Scratchy's picture

At least Amerika has got a bright & cheery happy-go-lucky 1st Lady to cheer them up!

Thu, 09/25/2014 - 13:49 | 5256494 p00k1e
p00k1e's picture

Send them a Sam Adams so they have something to cry into.

Thu, 09/25/2014 - 13:48 | 5256497 samsara
samsara's picture

If you want a fun trip thru pictures of the Weird place that is Japan,

Then TheChive is your place.

 

WTF, Japan! You’re not even trying anymore (51 Photos)

http://thechive.com/2014/09/16/wtf-japan-youre-not-even-trying-anymore-51-photos/

Japanese threads are to “normal” what Kim Kardashian is to “praiseworthy” (38 Photos

http://thechive.com/2012/05/31/japanese-threads-are-to-normal-what-kim-kardashian-is-to-praiseworthy-38-photos/

If I say “Japan” in the title, do I even need to mention “bizarre”? (40 Photos)

http://thechive.com/2013/02/08/if-i-say-japan-in-the-title-do-i-even-need-to-mention-bizarre-40-photos/

Weird sh*t from Japan (28 Photos

http://thechive.com/2012/05/11/weird-sht-from-japan-28-photos/

 

KCCO   Tylers

 

Thu, 09/25/2014 - 14:01 | 5256562 suteibu
suteibu's picture

Seriously?  That's like showing pictures of any Comic-con or San Francisco gay pride week as examples of American culture.

Thu, 09/25/2014 - 14:22 | 5256640 Buckaroo Banzai
Buckaroo Banzai's picture

But those ARE examples of American culture.

Thu, 09/25/2014 - 14:27 | 5256664 ninja247
ninja247's picture

the fatest person i ever sat next to on a plane had a KCCO shirt on

#FuckTheChive

 

Thu, 09/25/2014 - 18:55 | 5257761 Flagit
Flagit's picture

Eye see what you did there.

Thu, 09/25/2014 - 16:37 | 5257244 Lea
Lea's picture

Why do I have the sad feeling these people are trying as hard as they can to be something they're not? Blonde Japanese girls when ethnically, blonde is a color they can never naturally have, wigs, strange splashy colors, make-up that literally covers their faces... It's unnatural, strained, like, you know in parties, people who turn up intending to have great fun, get rapidly bored to tears, but pretend hard to find it all great just because socially, it's the thing to do.

I knew once a Japanese girl. She used to quote a poem I thought quite sweet and clever, until I was told that the whole of her generation's girls quoted the same poem. It was only a fad. She was behaving like a broken record; I don't know whether she even understood the meaning of the words she parroted. Nobody home.

Poor Japan.

Thu, 09/25/2014 - 13:48 | 5256498 Peter Pan
Peter Pan's picture

With all the bullshit going into GDP calculations, I now foresee the Japanese including any new sex dolls in their birth statistics.

Thu, 09/25/2014 - 13:50 | 5256510 Elliptico
Elliptico's picture

War criminal president.

Thu, 09/25/2014 - 14:04 | 5256580 p00k1e
p00k1e's picture

Bush over-looked Obama being a non U.S. citizen and Obama overlooked George “Those WMD’s have got to be here somewhere…  maybe under here.  LOL” Bush.

 

Thu, 09/25/2014 - 13:51 | 5256512 Captain Willard
Captain Willard's picture

This just proves there is more than one way to engineer a Depression.

So they're too lazy to get laid in Japan, huh? Here in the US, low-IQ people breed like rabbits, swelling the ranks of the free-shit Army along with all the low-skilled immigrants we've let in. I would rather wait out a Depression in Tokyo than in Chicago even if you need lead-lined underwear. 

Thu, 09/25/2014 - 13:56 | 5256532 Duffy
Duffy's picture

exactly.

Thu, 09/25/2014 - 18:38 | 5257708 MeelionDollerBogus
MeelionDollerBogus's picture

Depends what you mean by "too lazy". If what you mean is they have to be rich as fuck & let women rule them in every manner, then MAYBE they're lazy.

Keep in mind that people do understand incentive, motivation & change behaviour to reduce needless losses. Ask yourself: is marriage a needless loss? How about long-term dating where inflation is stupidly high & women expect men to pay for it all?

And now ask yourself if that is Japan.

Is it lazy to bow out of working twice as hard for half as much?

Thu, 09/25/2014 - 13:51 | 5256514 docmac324
docmac324's picture

Pacification is the point, complete pacification.  TRUE sheep.  Coming to a country near you.

Thu, 09/25/2014 - 13:58 | 5256554 eyesofpelosi
eyesofpelosi's picture

-- Many young men now reject the macho work ethic and related values of their fathers. These "herbivores" reject the traditonal Samurai ideal of masculinity. Derisively called "herbivores" or "Grass-eaters," these young men are uncompetitive and uncommitted to work, evidence of their deep disillusionment with Japan's troubled economy.--

 

Hmmm, I wonder if we have people like that here in the USSA?

Thu, 09/25/2014 - 14:24 | 5256649 Buckaroo Banzai
Buckaroo Banzai's picture

They are called metrosexuals here. Immortalized by "pajama boy".

http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2013/12/opinion-rich-lowry-obamac...

Thu, 09/25/2014 - 14:00 | 5256560 cornflakesdisease
cornflakesdisease's picture

Interesting that within 24 hours of surrender Japan had a western controlled central bank set up.  Interesting how they buy the dickens out of US treasuries even though it is no benifit to them.  You think they were a vassal state of the Anglo-American dual world power or something.

Thu, 09/25/2014 - 14:06 | 5256582 suteibu
suteibu's picture

Japan's central bank was under Western control since the Rothchilds financed the Russo-Japanese War in the early 20th century.  Japan was a vassal state of the US (and Britain) since the 1850s.

Thu, 09/25/2014 - 19:47 | 5257951 Treason Season
Treason Season's picture

Grammar Police Here!

Japan has been a vassal state of the US (and Britain) since the 1850s.

Thu, 09/25/2014 - 14:04 | 5256565 Peak Finance
Peak Finance's picture

This is, in fact, a perfectly rational responce to a crushing, crumpling, social system. 

The powers that be seem to have forgotten that a "regular" guy, really does not need MUCH AT ALL to be completley happy. 

The only reason the typical guy works really hard is two fold, when we are young we work hard to make our parents proud, and then later in our lives to to support our wife and families.

Well now, Now, our parents really don't need us anymore, with social security and medicare and various ponzi (oops I mean pensions), and, feminism has completley and totally destroyed the family, we are now a nation of bastards.

IF you get married you are a FUCKING FOOL since your wife can leave you and take half your shit on a whim, and, women are so slutty now it takes NO COMITTMENT from the male at all to score hot babes, just don;'t be a slob or creepy and they will follow you around!  (Looking for you during the day with a flashlight!)

So, the COMPLETELY RATIONAL RESPONSE from men is to tell society to "FUCK-OFF" and then to GO THEIR OWN WAY.

So These guys in the article are the Japanese version of MGTOW here in the states, there are cultural differences of course but it's the same response to the same completely broken and morally bankrupt system that we live in!

 

 

Thu, 09/25/2014 - 15:27 | 5256968 Steaming_Wookie_Doo
Steaming_Wookie_Doo's picture

I'd add the fact that preceded this was that all those low to mid-end mfg jobs all disappeared to China, and all the money and job stability went with it. I'm not sure it's entirely a rejection of "macho" work ethic, but working 12 hrs a day for an employer who doesn't even give you a raise, let alone a lifetime guarantee of work.

Of course, the corporations are still making beaucoup bucks regardless...

Thu, 09/25/2014 - 14:03 | 5256575 Jack Burton
Jack Burton's picture

What a contrast to the Go Go 1980's! Japan was the world force in modern consumer products in Technology. Japan won the war to produce ultra high quality cars at reasonable prics. I went Japanese in 1988, and never looked back. As a young guy I traveled the 1st world and Japanese were everywhere, in every American big city or national park, driving the highways on car tours, they were all over Europe and Australia and New Zealand. Arrogant and aloof, they spent big and spent large, superiority and racism had hit an all time high among Japanese in the 1980's. The it all came crashing down!

The youth see the lack of opportunity, crowded cities offer no relief. Even a poor man where I live can go fishing, hunting, camping, hiking, lose themselves in wilderness canoe trips. This is like a recharger for the soul, even for people with limited opportunity. It's a way of life, Japanese have little access to that. Stuck in consumer society inside cities that are barren and sterile in the extreme. Rent a Tokyo hotel room, one up on the high floors, look out on the vast desert of grey fucking buildings and steets, as far as the eye can see. What a hell hole.

Thu, 09/25/2014 - 14:12 | 5256604 suteibu
suteibu's picture

That's harsh, Jack.  Tokyo sucks less than New York or Chicago from the standpoint of safety if nothing else.  And there is plenty of nature for one to lose oneself in Japan.  What do you think the rural poor do that's any different than in the US?

Thu, 09/25/2014 - 14:38 | 5256712 LFMayor
LFMayor's picture

i agree with it sucking less, but saw a documentary about the "suicide forest".  They're crowded, no two ways about it.

What they need is a Greater Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere.

no, no, been done, scratch that one...

Thu, 09/25/2014 - 14:48 | 5256761 suteibu
suteibu's picture

Tragic, indeed.  But did you know that suicide is a leading cause of death in the US, higher than automobile deaths?  Japan's suicide rate rose with the decline of the economy.  That was two decades ago.  The US is just now catching up.

Thu, 09/25/2014 - 15:58 | 5257089 Nick Jihad
Nick Jihad's picture

The USA and Japan have a lot in common.  One problem that is overlooked, is the feminization of both our societies, and by that i mean, the phenomenon where men are still expected to do the dirty, difficult and dangerous jobs, but politics demands that we pretend otherwise, and those jobs are no longer a route to financial security or respect in the community.

Just as an example, after all this discussion of the "pay gap",  you'd think it would be relevant, that over 90% of workplace fatalities are men. But no, it's not polite to mention how the people dying on the job are men. The next time you read a news story about a disaster in a mine, or an oil rig, note the pronouns used to describe the victims.  "Workers" are killed, "employees" are missing, "miners" are trapped. Never "men".

So men are turning "herbivore", or "going Galt". It's foolish to expect anyone to work hard and take risks, with nothing to gain.

Thu, 09/25/2014 - 14:07 | 5256585 Elliptico
Elliptico's picture

Criminal cabinet members, e.g., Paulson.

Thu, 09/25/2014 - 14:32 | 5256659 alexcojones
alexcojones's picture

Some Japanese Subcultures Are Insane - Even by American and Japan standards

Thu, 09/25/2014 - 15:03 | 5256847 somecallmetimmah
somecallmetimmah's picture

Some?  How can you tell?

Thu, 09/25/2014 - 14:48 | 5256660 Radical Marijuana
Radical Marijuana's picture

I like the theory that when one is angry about something long enough, without being able to do anything about the reasons why one is angry, that gradually burns out to become depression.

In my view, the social depression follows from its driving cause, the political depression, which has its source in the political repression, which is due to the ways in which the runaway vicious feedback spirals of the funding of the political processes eventually become so extremely unbalanced that there is no longer any practical way to stop that from automatically getting worse. AFTER the systems are set up that a privileged few can make the public "money" supply out of nothing as debts for everyone else, and those who are first in line for that new "money" therefore have extreme advantages over everyone else, then that political leverage automatically becomes a more and more extreme ratio.

Indeed, things are now unbalanced to a degree of more than 100 to 1, due to the effective privatization of the public "money" supply. Since money is the mother's milk of politics, or the oxygen to political fires, and the SOURCE of that "money" supply has become 99%+ corrupted to a completely crazy degree, there results a runaway political depression, from the objective facts that it is no longer feasible for there to be any politically practical ways to compete with those who have ALREADY gained privatized control over the creation of "money" out of nothing as debts.

There has been a vicious spiral of the triumphant application of the methods of organized crime to the political processes, which has driven feedback loops where the profits from legalized frauds could be reinvested in more legalized frauds. Those degrees of relative advantages in the political arena have resulted in the basic public schools and mass media becoming overwhelming parts of the social problems, rather than any possible aspects of their solutions.

As countless articles on Zero Hedge have documented how Japan was "leading" the way in the experiment of creating more and more "money" out of nothing, it makes sense that was also "leading" the way towards social depression. The problem with better understanding the nature of those problems is that the more one learns, the worse those get, because it becomes more and more painfully obvious that there are NO practical political ways to fix the basic problems of the funding of the political processes becoming so extremely UNBALANCED. After the creation of a political economy in which "money" made out of nothing as debts becomes a deeply established feature, then those who benefited from that have too great an advantage, such that nobody else can compete with them!

Go to look at any kind of political campaign about anything anywhere, and one of the first things one will notice are the efforts made by that campaign to raise funds. Put that in the context of the situation that the groups which already are dominant CAN make "money" out of nothing, compared to how everyone else has to work for that in some way or another, and it becomes obvious that we have already reached the point where the established systems of enforced frauds, or legalized lies, backed by legalized violence, have NO practical political ways to be fixed.

It is honest, and shows intellectual integrity, to face the social and political facts that the globalized political economy systems are terminally sick and insane, and have no feasible ways to be fixed. While being optimistic surely feels better, and holding on irrational hopes feels better than having no hope at all, nevertheless, there are no good grounds for any reasonable hopes for the future, other than for the already established systems to automatically get worse, faster.

Sure, there are lots of theoretically possible treatments, or theoretically possible solutions. However, there are no practical ways to ever get those actually implemented through the political processes, when the funding of those processes is already so totally lopsided, to a ratio of more than 100 to 1 in favour of the established frauds, against any more radical truths. While I think that most people are only more dimly aware of the social facts, or only more intuitively understand their political predicament, rather than have made a thorough study of those social facts, the final results are similar: the more particular political depression spreads out to become more wide-spread general social depression.

PEOPLE ARE JUSTIFIABLY ANGRY ABOUT THINGS THEY CAN NOT CHANGE. AS THAT SITUATION CONTINUES TO BE DEMONSTRATED, THEY BURN OUT TO BECOME DEPRESSED.

 

Thu, 09/25/2014 - 14:55 | 5256818 samsara
samsara's picture

RM,  Great points as always.

You may want to read John Michael Greer's post this week.

It's a good read.

Dark Age America: The Senility of the Elites

http://www.resilience.org/stories/2014-09-25/dark-age-america-the-senility-of-the-elites

Thu, 09/25/2014 - 17:02 | 5257366 RabbitOne
RabbitOne's picture

Your theory about depression is “ …I like the theory that when one is angry about something long enough, without being able to do anything about the reasons why one is angry, that gradually burns out to become depression. …” is simple and direct but leaves out some of the physical and mental components that give depth to depression.

For example the depression in a soldiers head in battle is woven strongly in their brain because it has their adrenalin pump attached to it. This can make the anger far more dramatic and depression much more vivid in soldiers than the depression caused by a dead end job in an office. Thus soldiers need immediate attention and office workers gradually confront to their depression.

 Thus I believe the social depression we seeing are gradually expanding and have been playing out over many decades. I believe we have just begun to see the real affect of social engineering. It will culminate when social government can no longer bear the costs of social engineering for whatever reason…     

Thu, 09/25/2014 - 14:30 | 5256673 alexcojones
alexcojones's picture

"When lots of Americans picture Japan, they're picturing Tokyo--one big Blade Runner-esque city. But take the subway out of the city, past the endless suburbs and there's a Japanese heartland just as rough and tumble as the deepest parts of the South. There are even Japanese truckers.

"But unlike American truckers, who spend their off hours doing meth and hiring inexpensive prostitutes, Japanese truckers spend their free time--and thousands of their yen--turning their trucks into something out of an extremely flamboyant, musical version of The Road Warrior.

"Known as dekotora (a combination of the English words "decoration" and "truck") these guys add amazingly elaborate spoilers, lights, boxes and elaborate murals to their rides.

"A dekotora truck can have a Cadillac bumper, illuminated chrome side-running boards, paper lanterns, luggage racks that light up like Christmas trees, detailed murals featuring dragons, samurai and cartoon characters, and even metal tubes shooting off the front that serve no purpose at all."

Hollywood needs to do a JAPANESE TRUCKER REALITY TV Show

Read more: http://www.cracked.com/article_18567_6-japanese-subcultures-that-are-ins...

Thu, 09/25/2014 - 14:42 | 5256740 LFMayor
LFMayor's picture

Dude, you missed the 70's, didn't you?  BJ and the Bear, Smokey and the Bandit, Breaker, Breaker.  All that shit was because of the rolling murals and CB culture that sorta bloomed and then withered there between folk artists and disco.
You basically had all the nose art of WW2 on some of those trucks... minus bare tits,  all the way through cartoon characters and up to Jesus Christ pointing the way through the storm Hisself murals on trucks and trailers.

Christmas Tree was the CB call to some guy who had a crap ton of lights on his rig. It was kind of red-neck bright spot in what was by and large a pretty suck ass decade for gen x.  

Thu, 09/25/2014 - 14:33 | 5256688 p00k1e
p00k1e's picture

If what suteibu says is true, and it is….  People who look like the Rothchild’s (White Euro-Folk) might be exterminated in the next global war.

Look around at the results of all the ‘saving’ Euro-toned people accomplished.   

Thu, 09/25/2014 - 14:34 | 5256694 alexcojones
alexcojones's picture

"On the Internet at least, the word "Lolita" conjures up images of sweaty middle-aged dudes who hang around schoolyards and get their hard drives confiscated by the FBI. But in Japan, Lolita refers to another bizarre subculture. Unlike their gyaru contemporaries, who cake on the makeup and bare as much skin as legally possible, Lolita's dress up in clothes so modest, Queen Victoria would tell them to loosen up a little.

"Clad in petticoats, high-collared dresses, bonnets and wielding fluffy parasols, they walk the Bladerunner streets of Tokyo looking like graduates of The Tim Burton School for Girls. There are all kinds of lolita's, each with their own variation on the theme, but they all share a love of women's fashions that died out before their grandmothers were born.

"And these aren't just outfits they wear to special clubs or garden parties. You can see grown women in these full Victorian doll costumes on trains, in book stores and wolfing down cheeseburgers at McDonald's.

"Why, you may ask? It has something to do with the rejection of male-created beauty standards and sexualized dress. Yes. In Japan, to express their rejection of oppressive cultural stereotypes and proclaim their independence, women dress like creepy school girls from 200 years ago. That sounds about right."

Sometimes I think the Tylers moonlight over at Cracked.

Read more: http://www.cracked.com/article_18567_6-japanese-subcultures-that-are-ins...

Thu, 09/25/2014 - 14:36 | 5256698 kevinearick
kevinearick's picture

Birth Control & Economics

Be at the gate, with the correct tools, and go through the gate when it opens. Don’t follow the majority, because the majority ‘works’ off the fear of ignorance, willingly selling its free will for toys. The empire participants will be crowding the door that does not open, because they have turned it into an extortion toll booth.

Birth control is quite simple. Keep the female’s womb cool and/or variable. There are a thousand ways to do that. You have the Internet.

Going to the medical scientists is like going to the used car lot. You are going to pay too much, you are going to pay exorbitant interest and you are going to pay a penalty, for being stupid. The moment you walk onto that lot, you lost, because you entering a contract made to be broken, as the weaker party.

The used car salesperson is simply supplying a demand, albeit an artificial one. Without economic mobility, at will, you are a commodity, subject to increasing rent on decreasing make-work income, consuming more and more of your time, away from your children, on the way back to the DNA churn pool.

Bloomberg is a commodity. He can fly here, there and everywhere, but he cannot exit his economic status, no matter where he goes. If you do not provide the building with an elevator, all inhabitants consume their own waste. Have your food and water analyzed some time.

Labor could fix those elevators in the global cities, employed as extortion toll booths in big city rat races, but it’s not going to. Whether the majority dies off slowly, quickly, or halts at an equilibrium is up to the majority.

Because the majority votes to redefine the lower middle class as labor, for the purpose of exploitation, doesn’t make it so. The water line is now up to the neck of the upper middle class, playing both capitalist and socialist sides, and continues to rise. Whether it lowers rent in the countryside now or collapses later is irrelevant to labor.

So, you climb up and down the building, installing door hardware and electrical troughs as you go, gaining experience at each floor, to replace the return line. You install the motor last, and cut the necessary holes in the wall. The empire hires Edison. You want Galileo.

If you are beating your head against the wall, expecting the majority to change its behavior, stop beating your head against the wall, because the majority cannot change its course of its own volition, no matter how good, bad or indifferent their position becomes.

From the perspective of the State, a job is a privilege, not a position to be earned. That’s what all those compliance pieces of paper are all about. Good luck with that, disabling the top end of the job market, to maintain the status quo. In the grand scheme of things, the empire is a tiny cubicle, of cubicles.

No, the regulators, politicians and city managers are not the top of the job market, and the bankers don’t have a clue how an economy really works, What they do know is the gravitational side of the fulcrum.

At this very moment, yet another critter is about to take preemptive action against me, thinking that real estate inflation is wealth, that he is more intimidating, subjecting himself to commoditization…crack me up.

Thu, 09/25/2014 - 14:35 | 5256699 himaroid
himaroid's picture

Maybe more Russian foreplay would help.

Thu, 09/25/2014 - 14:39 | 5256717 alexcojones
alexcojones's picture

I'm starting to think that all that radiation created something more different than Godzilla.

"Gyaru: Named for the English word "gal," gyaru are young girls who dye their hair sickly shades of silver and blonde, get fakey tans and slather the makeup on thicker than Bugs Bunny in drag. They can be found hanging out on street corners in almost every major city, but the movement was born (like almost every freaky Japanese style) in the ultra-hip Harajuku neighborhood of Tokyo.

"There are all sorts of subgroups of gyaru, and each successive generation gets weirder than the last.

"First came the kogyaru, high school girls who wore sexualized versions of their school uniforms (supershort skirts and incredibly saggy socks) and dyed their hair blond. Once that style peaked, some girls started to go off the rails. Known as ganguro, they slathered dark makeup on their faces, painted their lips white and attached shiny stickers to their faces.

"Some of the ganguro, however, weren't satisfied with looking like panda hookers and went one terrible step further. Calling themselves yamanba, which means "mountain hag" in Japanese, these girls made themselves look as ridiculous as possible, and wore makeup that would make John Wayne Gacy sleep with a nightlight."

Might be a fun freaky one night stand -

Read more: http://www.cracked.com/article_18567_6-japanese-subcultures-that-are-ins...

Thu, 09/25/2014 - 14:46 | 5256751 LFMayor
LFMayor's picture

dude, you need to work for a travel agency selling package deals or some shit.  I smell money to be made with this. 

Thu, 09/25/2014 - 15:11 | 5256884 somecallmetimmah
somecallmetimmah's picture

You know, if there were just a couple genuine, motivated Samurai left on Honshu, they'd be chopping a f*ck-load of freaky-ass Japanese heads off.

I'd pay top dollar to see that.

Thu, 09/25/2014 - 15:40 | 5257032 bluskyes
bluskyes's picture

all I see is empty, soul-less eyes...

Thu, 09/25/2014 - 14:43 | 5256739 limacon
limacon's picture

Change humans by uplifting them .

See https://www.academia.edu/8491490/Prodigy_Update_I

 

Thu, 09/25/2014 - 15:40 | 5257031 somecallmetimmah
somecallmetimmah's picture

Humans stink.

Thu, 09/25/2014 - 16:14 | 5257138 LFMayor
LFMayor's picture

True dat.  Especially the bunch that i'm already fucking "uplifting" with all my goddam taxes.

Thu, 09/25/2014 - 14:50 | 5256777 anachronism
anachronism's picture

A fatal decision was made in 1994 that had probably been in the works for at least 2 years before. That decision was to turn away from Japan and turn to China as the nation with which we would build our "Pacific Partnership". Bill Clinton was the Manchurian Candidate/turned President, who set in motion a series of events to make this happen. (His partner in this crime was Newt Gingrich. Both were beholding to -and serving the same- interests.) Both America and Japan were harmed -perhaps irreparably- by this decision and all the ones that have followed it.

All the symptoms described in this article about Japan are common not only in the USA, but also in the European countries as well. Globalization (Plus the related process of "privatizing"/"corporatizing" government institutions and functions) is the root cause of this malaise, this depression.

Fri, 09/26/2014 - 10:49 | 5259591 Johnny_is_alrea...
Johnny_is_already_taken's picture

In 1994 japannese workers earned $1000 a month and Chinees $10

 

 

Thu, 09/25/2014 - 15:01 | 5256841 somecallmetimmah
somecallmetimmah's picture

So, what would happen if every Japanese citizen over (say) age 60 decided to commit suicide?

Population would be cut roughly in half, no more congestion, no more debt over-hang, people could have children again, and the 'grass-eaters' could start acting like men again.

Thu, 09/25/2014 - 15:14 | 5256902 LFMayor
LFMayor's picture

Fuckola!   Are you Rahm Emmanuals older brother or what?  

What would be better would be if the oldsters all broke out those headbands, got all pilled up on yellows and went for One Last Ride, anything goes,  13 Assassins edition.

Thu, 09/25/2014 - 15:20 | 5256921 somecallmetimmah
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C'mon, why not?  Nothing good happens after 60.  Do your progeny a favor.  Take the most noble step, as generations of Japanese warriors have done, for the good of their country.  'Off' yourself!

Thu, 09/25/2014 - 15:40 | 5257028 somecallmetimmah
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Jesus, who's 'down-ticking' me?!?  All I said was, "Japan should commit national suicide".

Geez, grow up.

Thu, 09/25/2014 - 16:03 | 5257110 Nick Jihad
Nick Jihad's picture

It's not nice, but it raises a valid point - what can a young Japanese person look forward to, other than a lifetime of tax-servitude to legions of grasping oldsters?

Sat, 09/27/2014 - 04:04 | 5262258 Kobe Beef
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As of today, a full 25% of the Japanese population is over 65. Think about that.  

Thu, 09/25/2014 - 15:12 | 5256887 Smiddywesson
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When you tell your kid he'll never amount to anyting, and never reward him for trying, he'll soon view the world through those glasses and stop trying.  Combine that mentality with the very real conditions of joblessness and inequality, and you have a lot generation, not to mention, a lost economy.

 

It's really that simple.  Lose the middle class and you lose the workers of tomorrow.

Thu, 09/25/2014 - 15:22 | 5256935 somecallmetimmah
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Please see my suggestion above.  :-)

Thu, 09/25/2014 - 15:12 | 5256888 Smiddywesson
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duplicate

Thu, 09/25/2014 - 15:31 | 5256981 GoldenDonuts
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Its not fucking rocket science why the youth and half of the rest in the west are unemployed.  We shipped all of the jobs elsewhere so that the next quarter could see half a point better profits and goose management's bonuses enormously. 

Here is the solution.

Free trade among countries of similar culture and lifestyle only.  It doesn't work the other way.  We have proven that.  Everyone doesn't get richer.  The middle class just gets downgraded to third world status.

Fire anyone presently holding an MBA who is running anything larger than a lemonade stand.

Encourage companies to return the jobs to the west with tax policy and tariffs.

 

Thu, 09/25/2014 - 15:41 | 5257033 somecallmetimmah
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Freaky-deaky-Japaneaky.

Thu, 09/25/2014 - 16:15 | 5257121 RabbitOne
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Post WWII nanny governments have broken businesses historical boom and bust cycles. These governments did this to take power and control over working and non working populations. In this power grab they have destroyed societies where private resources formerly acted as the back stop of the business boom and bust cycle.

 Nowhere is this more apparent than the US auto industry.  In the 1960’s during layoffs families pulled together to overcome boom and bust cycles. Many auto ere boom and bust cycle children have fond memories of a ‘close knit’ family unit. Bust cycles ‘cleaned out’ the inefficiencies in these auto companies and made them more completive.

 Contrast this to the union and nanny government boom and non-bust cycle of today. In this era there are no busts with people or blessed auto companies. Everyone they say is ‘entitled’ to total care during a bad time (no I am not against having some backstop).

 The boom and non-bust cycle of today has created can’t fail auto companies that now believe government will bail them out. This is creating auto models that are complete flops that government is now paying for. The availability of cheap credit makes auto companies take risks that would be unheard of in prior era’s.  

The boom and non-bust cycle of today has created lazy auto employees who take excessive risks, lack personal initiative and resourcefulness to survive, demand jobs they feel suit themselves, are uncompetitive to learning alternative jobs and  demand full pay layoffs as part of their jobs. These unrealistic employees expect no reduction in pay no matter how ‘bad’ the layoffs.

 The U.S. auto industry is just one example of how social engineering has destroyed people and businesses….

Thu, 09/25/2014 - 16:18 | 5257155 Fix It Again Timmy
Fix It Again Timmy's picture

Our nation's abhorrent response to the 9/11 attacks and the resulting waste and destruction as a result should have been a bellweather that our government is figuratively insane and should have been dismantled and rebuilt from the ground up. This also applies to our government's response to the financial collapse in 2008.  Thus we have had two events and two responses that should have been good cause for burning down the rotted power structure and starting over; but look where we are today, we're starting all over again, going down the same insane path.  We will not get what we wish for or want but what we deserve...

Thu, 09/25/2014 - 16:19 | 5257161 Salsipuedes
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Man! Just looking at that picture made me quasi-suicidal!

Thu, 09/25/2014 - 16:38 | 5257275 Perfecthedge
Perfecthedge's picture

Hikikomori? Every mans dream.  Not going to work, watching anime and Japanese Lolitas 24x7 and wanking off.  Keeping your energy levels barely at minimum with ramen noodles.  I would say: lets go for it! 

Meanwhile the stock market is becoming the equivalent to a silicone breast size of 38KKK.

Thanks for this link: http://thechive.com/2012/05/11/weird-sht-from-japan-28-photos/

#11: They are becoming so lazy that they need a machine to masturbate? What the heck, this alone shows that they lost masculinity.

#6: You've got to love SAMURAI OBAMA!  The White House should have one of these in every fucking room!  Matter of fact, the US should drop off a whole Army of these in Iraq.


Thu, 09/25/2014 - 18:22 | 5257652 Monty Burns
Monty Burns's picture

All of this suggests a bad time for Japan should the cold war with China turn hot.

Fri, 09/26/2014 - 01:54 | 5258800 StychoKiller
StychoKiller's picture

Since "nihongo waskarimasen" (I don't speak Japanese), I can only assume that the paper carton with the baby and breastfeeding mom contains Human breast milk -- of course, mebbe I'm the crazy one!

 

Hermann Hesse called this "The Age of the Feuilleton (sp?)" in "Magister Ludi (The Glass Bead Game)"

Thu, 09/25/2014 - 17:47 | 5257527 Son of Loki
Son of Loki's picture

Japan had endless prosperity in its grips in the 1980's until massive corporate greed and leverage decapitated it, followed by profound political greed, incompetence and fraud ... which is now destroying it.

It's kinda sad since I liked the former Japan; clean, never mugged by Thugs there, and great food.

Thu, 09/25/2014 - 18:28 | 5257671 MeelionDollerBogus
MeelionDollerBogus's picture

"9. A generational abandonment of marriage, families and independent households as these are no longer affordable to those with part-time or unstable employment, i.e. what I have termed (following Jeremy Rifkin) the end of work."

Honestly... there's another reason for this. Marriage itself can be incredibly damaging financially to whoever is the bigger bread-winner, and worse in divorce. If those who figure it out fast enough realize marriage is actually zero benefit... then regardless of the economy being OK or not, they'll back out. Forever.

I'm not sure how Japan works for marriage & divorce finances but I'm pretty sure I know how it works in North America and the result is becoming obvious.

Sat, 09/27/2014 - 04:09 | 5262260 Kobe Beef
Kobe Beef's picture

Divorce in Japan is not as deadly (to men) as divorce in America. Yet. Feminism has not destroyed their familial structure. Yet. Still, Divorce and Single-mommery are on the rise.

Thu, 09/25/2014 - 19:15 | 5257842 reader2010
reader2010's picture

When everything becomes a commodity,  everything also becomes shit at the same time. Go visit the isolated Amazon jungle tribes and you will learn what humanity is in its most original form and what community really means. 

Thu, 09/25/2014 - 20:01 | 5258001 somecallmetimmah
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Fook-a-me? Fook-a-you!

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