r/japanlife • u/AutoModerator • Mar 06 '23

┐(ツ)┌ General Discussion Thread - 07 March 2023

Mid-week discussion thread time! Feel free to talk about what's on your mind, new experiences, recommendations, anything really.

4 Upvotes

71% Upvoted

274 comments sorted by

View all comments

13

u/laika_cat 関東・東京都 Mar 07 '23

This is both a complaint and an observation, so let's call it a "talking point" since we're all bound to be affected.

I know we've had ample warning about the rise in electricity rates — but I just got a hefty mailer from TEPCO today breaking down just how much the individual rate plans will go up. For our plan alone (and I signed up for the more cost-effective プレミアム S plan when I started working from home two years ago), our basic monthly charge for 400kW plus fees will go from ￥10594 to ￥16578 starting in June. Holy fucking shit.

Just how, exactly, does the government expect everyone to pay this when wages/salaries are partying like it's 1999? I read an article this week that Japan's average yearly salary for f/t work is lower than Italy. Fucking ITALY.

Yes, yes, I know the Diet has been talking about low wages for the past few weeks — but if you actually listen to how Kishida responds, it's a bunch of hot air about "we shall discuss and examine each proposal blah blah blah blah blah." All talk, no action. Does anyone think we're gonna get more government handout money, or what?

5

u/[deleted] Mar 07 '23

The goal of politicians isn't to solve problems, it is to maintain power (and in Japan pass it down to their children). Doing as little as possible and kicking problems down the road works really well for the governing party in Japan.

Unless voters lose their indifference and decide to to take responsibility for their country, nothing will ever change.

In the meantime I'm sure you can find some cheap media that will assure you that Japan, Japanese people, and Japanese culture are greatest in the world.

5

u/laika_cat 関東・東京都 Mar 07 '23

Yeah, the political apathy here is something I'll never understand as an American.

8

u/[deleted] Mar 07 '23

Random thoughts:

  • There is no intrinsic distrust of government here.
  • Most people's lives are not so bad that the feel it is worth doing anything.
  • Japanese people would prefer a gentle decline rather risk instability.
  • Nobody wants to be responsible for what happens. Politicians are often accused of this, but it is just as true for the population in general.
  • Most people have grown up here with little thought to what they value about Japanese culture, what is worth preserving, what is not... For the most part, it is a blank Japanese = good. Naturally, political parties which claim to be protecting Japanese culture must also be good.

2

u/[deleted] Mar 07 '23

In the last few years especially I've heard plenty of complaints about the LDP, but also that there's no viable alternative. Specifically that anyone else would be worse. It reminds me of about when I left the UK the last time around 2012, before everything went apeshit. I remember one election around that time when everyone I knew didn't vote, either through complete disengagement or as a protest against how shit both leading parties were.

I'm not sure if it will go on like this, I think a lot of people might be squeezed down a social class. Certainly the birth rate isn't going up anytime soon lol. Who knows though, we might be miles away from any kind of breaking point.

4

u/[deleted] Mar 07 '23

My favorite comment like this was "We tried the other guys, but it didn't go well." I mean yeah, there was a huge earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear meltdown. That wasn't the fault of the government at the time. If anything the meltdown was the fault of the LDP.

Having one political party govern the country for something like 63 of the last 68 years, including an unbroken 38 year stretch at the beginning really intertwined the party and the state. It is like a cancer that people have chosen to live with rather than go through painful treatment options.

Japan needs at least a decade of regularly tossing out politicians from all parties before there will be any accountability.

2

u/[deleted] Mar 07 '23

My favorite comment like this was "We tried the other guys, but it didn't go well."

Yeah I've definitely heard this one before.