When you F*** with the natural order of things, you get population decline.
The women are mad as hell because they want to pursue their lives?
More like they are following a fad that has got their country in deep sh*t.
Japan is now the biggest example to countries that work work work, showing what will happen when people are too busy with their selfish desires to give a damn about anything else i.e. forming a family and working for it.
Sure women should be respected and have an equal role in society but there should be a balance. In places like Japan, this balance has gone out of Whack and other work-a-holic countries like Britain are also following suit.
The only thing that saves Britain is that there is too much unemployment and a lot more ethnic diversity than Japan. The work-a-holic disease hasn't caught on as well as it could. Still I see teachers and civil servants having miscarriages everyday because of the stress they go through because they are off "following their dreams".
What happened to moderation -_-'

I don't get what's wrong with women working. They should be allowed to pursue a career just like a man should be able to. I don't see much wrong with Japanese women wanting more equality and more roles outside of being mothers or housewives. I don't see anything wrong if a woman chooses these roles, but I have a problem with women being expected to take them. I do agree that there should be a balance, so maybe more men should be at home with their kids so that the women can work and pursue careers, if they choose to, and get that "balance" back. I know this isn't going to probably happen anytime soon in places like Japan, though.

Exactly. Why the hell is is selfish of the women to not want to have children, especially when they're expected to be the ones to take care of them. Maybe if the men of Japan want to complain then they can stay home and fix the situation. However, I do believe that it might be becoming somewhat of a fad...things like this are confusing. ><

Women are better with children naturally. That is why it is tradition for women to stay home. You're denying this?

Hey man... you can blame capitalism/economic liberalism. Why should women put themselves out for society when self-interest is the name of the game? When society is not as supportive as it once was? :vsign:

Last I looked, and maybe this is because I live in America, both parents take turns raising their children. In the US, it's almost unheard of for both parents to not be working since most families can't afford to live off of one income, especially if you have children. Getting right down to it, I don't know anyone personally who had a mother who stayed home with the kids, 'cept for those who had government assistance and were "single moms".

For my family, when I was really young, my father was the one to take care of me. He had evening/night jobs whereas my mother always had a daytime job. She was the early bird and he was the night owl. The only time my mother stayed home with me as "stay at home mom", was only for a few months during her pregnancy leave, so of course I don't remember that.

IMO, some traditions are meant to be broken, and it's unfair that women are always going nuts over whether or not to pursue a career, or to become a full-time stay at home mom. Men are almost never faced with this choice. Both parents should take turns, imo, so that both can pursue careers that will benefit the family financially.

You know, this reminds me of the 1985 series Growing Pains. The wife (Maggie) gave up her Journalism career to become a stay at home mother. Once the youngest of her three kids got to a certain age (nine), she decided to go back out to jump start her career. Her husband (Jason), who was a Psychologist, sacrificed his job to do a private practice out of his home so that he could be with the children. They were compromising.

Home Improvement (1991/1992?) was the same way. Jill wanted to go back to school, get her degree and work as a Psychiatrist or counselor. She had three kids and was a "stay at home" mom, but in the later seasons, she did manage to get her degree and get a job as a counselor.

As I said above, I don't see anything wrong with women working, especially if they're married. The woman sacrificed to bear the children, the man could at least be supportive and helpful when it comes to raising them.

OMG those words made me so pissed I didn't even read the rest. Please don't tell me you were implying what I think you were implying.

Good for you.

I never said it was bad for women to get jobs. My mother was a single parent. I know how it goes.
My point is that people need balance. There is none though and that is a problem.
Kids needs both their parents not just one or the other. Its wrong to have a family and lose sight of this.
Women can go do whatever they want but within reason. The same goes for men.
If you think going out and getting laid and drunk every night is "living a dream" though, then in my opinion you are sorely mistaken. This is what eventually many "dreams" become and what I have a problem with.
If on the other hand you really want to make something of your life and want to reach new heights, go for it.
Both of the above require you not to have families though and that brings us back to why Japan has a population crisis.
Is ambition what everybody wants? I doubt it. Hence why I called it a fad. People following what the current "in thing" is, even though its not really anything they'd be happy with in the long run.

Deep down that is always the heart of the matter, the fact society is f****d up, in my opinion.
Even so, should we model ourselves around this kindof society and adapt to it just to find ourselves at a mental evolutionary dead end? Or should we get up and start taking action so we don't become helpless puppets who don't even know what wrong or right is anymore.
I've personally chosen the latter.

ps. I used to love home Improvement lol.

The problem is that women were expected to get an education and start a career, and then give it all up and become housewives until death. With many single females with a large disposable incomes, many industries were created to suck up some of that money. In the end, women said "Why am I giving all this up so my workaholic husband can be away from home 16 hours a day?" You can call that selfishness if you want, I think it is the sign of a need to modernize the culture. You don't see this in America in the same way (though people are waiting longer to get married), because American fathers are expected to help raise the children.

Hehe... I sort of agree with you ivi0nk3y.

Though I wouldn't say I'm really concerned about population decline. Rather I would simply like to see a healthy society. A society where mothers (or fathers) can afford to stay home and raise their children while the other goes off to earn a buck.