excellent read about people in the current japanese political economy hellscape https://www.bloomberg.com/features/2020-japan-lost-generation/

there’s this idea that hikikomori/neets are like privileged kids or something thanks to japanese media but the reality is it’s a lot of people forced out from an extremely privatized labor market
even “well-educated” people have trouble getting jobs

a high unemployment rate is great for corporations because they can pick and choose which person to hire
that’s why it is in the interest for many companies to keep unemployment rate high and outsource labor to other countries

people often rightfully fear about job displacement in the global north but they tend to misplace their fears in outsourcing, “oversaturation”, technological innovation etc.
but honestly, it’s in the interest of companies to hire less to do more — that’s the issue here

we’re seeing this more in japan because for a long time, the corporate culture depended on people and we’re seeing them displace their employees left and right
the “employment ice age” is just capitalism doing its thing
we are all part of a reserve labor army, replaceable assets

p.s. doomposting about how “japan is bad” and “this is why i hate weebs” on this thread or qrting is p silly when most people are ignorant about political economical issues
as people have pointed out, this isn’t exactly specific to one country and how we perceive it

there’s many instances of “ignorance as bliss” without referencing japan
plenty of people view canada as peaceful and funny but ignore the tremendous amount of violence against indigenous and black people there
likewise, jp political economy is studied because it’s comparable