Japan Is Everything Wrong With Society

Saying "unaliving" is everything wrong with society.

I’m Japanese, and I want to point out a few things: 1. Johatsu According to Japan’s National Police Agency, around 90,000 missing person reports were filed in 2023. However, over 70% were found within a week, and more than 97% were eventually located. Causes range widely, from dementia-related wandering (nearly 20,000 cases) to minor family disputes. Yet Western media often present this as if 100,000 people literally vanish into thin air every year, never to be seen again. That is a distortion. In fact, the UK records over 170,000 missing person cases annually, a higher number relative to population size. Japan is not uniquely plagued by disappearances; the “johatsu society” narrative is simply sensationalized. 2. Hikikomori Japan’s Cabinet Office estimates that up to 2 million people (about 1.61% of the population) fall into the category of hikikomori or “at risk” individuals. But this includes people who still go out once a week, not just those in total isolation. Among adults aged 40–64, only 4.2% of hikikomori report “never leaving their room at all.” International comparisons make the exaggeration clearer: studies suggest that the share of socially withdrawn people is 2.85% in the UK, 2.13% in Germany, and 2.09% in the US all higher than Japan. So yeah, similar patterns of severe social withdrawal are reported worldwide, not only in Japan. Framing hikikomori as a uniquely Japanese “social pathology” is misleading and plays into stereotypes. 3. Suicide rates It is true that Japan once had a high suicide rate: in 2003, 34,427 people died by suicide. But the number has declined steadily for two decades, falling to 21,818 in 2023. According to OECD data, Japan’s suicide rate now stands at about 12 per 100,000 people, lower than the US (14.1) and Belgium (18.0). The tired cliché that “Japan is the suicide capital of the developed world” no longer reflects reality. 4. The “Christmas Cake” myth The idea that a woman over 25 is “past her expiration date,” likened to Christmas cake, is frequently cited. But this was a short-lived media buzzword of the 1980s and 1990s, now completely obsolete. As a Japanese person, I have never heard anyone use it in daily life. Today, the average age of first marriage is 29.6 for women and 31.1 for men. The true drivers of Japan’s low birthrate are economic insecurity, housing costs, and lack of childcare support not outdated social labels. Repeating the “Christmas Cake” trope today is simply recycling stereotypes. 5. Rental services Another favorite trope is Japan’s “rental family” or “rental girlfriend” services. Yes, such services technically exist but they were a tiny, niche industry that briefly made headlines over a decade ago. Today, almost no one uses them, and most Japanese have forgotten they exist at all. Yet foreign media and YouTubers continue to recycle these stories because they are useful for painting Japan as “bizarre” and “exotic.” Meanwhile, the ordinary, far more common forms of community volunteer groups, neighborhood associations, sports clubs go completely unmentioned. 6. Work culture Japan’s bubble burst in the 1990s, and exploitative “black companies” became infamous. But the stereotype of endless overwork is outdated. In the 1970s, Japanese people worked over 2,200 hours annually; by 2023, that figure had fallen to around 1,600 hours. That’s 600–700 fewer hours per year, and Americans now work more (about 1,811 hours). Reforms have also been implemented: the 2018 Work Style Reform Act capped overtime and required paid leave. Meanwhile, Japan’s notorious drinking-party culture has collapsed. Surveys show 67% of workers attend zero drinking parties per month, and another 27% only once. In short, while these videos include some kernels of truth, they rely heavily on exaggeration, outdated concepts, and cherry-picked oddities. They present Japan not as it truly is, but as a curated spectacle of darkness and strangeness, designed to satisfy Western stereotypes. From a Japanese perspective, it feels less like a meaningful discussion of social issues, and more like Orientalist entertainment exoticizing Japan and Asia as mysterious, troubled, and “other” for Western consumption. The real Japan is far more complex, dynamic, and diverse than these clichés suggest.

Next Moon video : Society is everything wrong with society.

Running an ad right before a sponsored ad, followed by another ad is everything wrong with society

So sick of hearing grown adults saying "unaliving."

is there any place that isnt "everything wrong with society" at this point

‘X is everything wrong with Y’ the new algorithm cheat code?

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I live with my elderly mother but I support her financially and she cooks me food while I work and manage finances.

"You think lunch is more important that a deadline?" If i ever got such question, i would quit those psychopats on spot. No corporation is worthy giving it my mental and physical health.