One of the biggest problems the Japanese face today is it’s anemic birth rate of just 1.38 children born per couple. There are many reasons why Japanese are having less children: increasingly complex lifestyles, women wanting to do more with their lives before having children, and the high costs of raising a child in Japan. Unlike the U.S., Japan doesn’t have a large inflow of immigrants to take up the slack, which is why there are more Japanese over age 60 than under age 18. A big part of the birthrate problem seems related to the lack of sex drive in married couples, who find themselves perfectly happy to forgo sex in their married lives, causing the coining of the term “sekkusuresu” (sexless) in the Japanese language. Evidence of this can be seen in the high number of homes being built with separate main bedrooms, so that married couples can sleep in separate rooms. My wife reports that most of her female married friends have very infrequent conjugal encounters with their husbands, although they might be otherwise happy with the relationship in general.
The dynamics of money are quite different in Japan compared with the U.S. First of all, Japan is a very cash-based society, and it’s quite common for monthly salaries to be handed out in bulging envelopes of cash (although many companies opt for the safer method of direct-deposit into employee’s bank accounts). Personal checks don’t exist here, and the concept of giving someone a signed slip of paper then walking off with merchandise is quite alien to the Japanese. Credit cards are slowly gaining acceptance, but it’s more common for people who need to buy something on credit to use one of the high-interest “personal loan” companies that advertise on television so much. It’s well known that the Japanese have a high rate of savings — although it’s been dropping in recent years, the average household still has US$120,000 saved, mostly in cash bearing extremely low interest. Just how low? I happened to pick up a bank statement my wife had on her desk, which reported a whopping 87 cents earned on a $10,000 CD over the course of a year. Although she knows this is lower than she could get in the U.S., she insists on doing at least half of her saving in Japan because it gives her peace of mind.
The word for foreigner in Japanese is “gaijin,” written using the characters for “outside” and “person.” While it simply refers to foreigners, the word is kind of harsh and can sound derogatory depending on how it’s used. For this reason, the new official word for foreigners in Japanese is “gaikokujin” or “outside country person,” a word that sounds much softer to the ear. If you watch the news on NHK, Japan’s version of the BBC, you’ll only hear this word used. One thing about foreigners living in Japan: while they usually don’t appreciate Japanese calling out to them by saying “Hey, gaijin!” they’re more than likely to use the term amongst themselves openly, without a second thought. We’re rather odd that way…
Remember that J-List carries the famous Japanese gum Black Black, a caffeine-laced gum that will wake up you and keep you awake. Enjoyed by everyone from college students to truck drivers, Black Black has been mentioned in novels by William Gibson. And as with most of our gum and snack items, if you buy 10 or more you get a 15% discount at checkout.
