Thread

More than 100k people in Japan are now aged 100 or older

217 points · 282 comments · karakoram

shoobiedoo · 1789687401 · focus · HN ↗
This article calls it a "quiet emergency" but even as a foreigner living in Japan there are alarm bells everywhere. And the government buying 150 F35's is just a slap in the face when there's a massive chunk of the population that is, very quickly, going to need extra care.
I looked into becoming a care aid myself as I'm tired of office culture in Japan and have some experience in that field. I was shocked to see that they start at less than 10USD, and working your way up takes years, decades even.
Continuing to kick this can down the road is going to be an absolute disaster.
1. cedws · 1789709922 · focus · HN ↗
  Japan desperately needs some defense of its own, American is an unreliable ally and Japan has no nukes. And we’ve seen what happens to countries with no nukes.
  1. fzeroracer · 1789717433 · focus · HN ↗
    To be completely fair, we've also seen what happens to countries with nukes as well. It seems like almost every major military power on the planet has been hollowed out by institutional rot and grifters and I would fully believe the same of China's military if they got into a stupid conflict like the US. Traditional military power doesn't matter in a world where a country can buy a hundred thousand drones for dirt cheap and make any sort of invasion suicidal.
  2. NalNezumi · 1789752764 · focus · HN ↗
    >While there are currently no known plans in Japan to produce nuclear weapons, it has been argued Japan has the technology, raw materials, and the capital to produce nuclear weapons within one year if necessary, and many analysts consider it a de facto nuclear state for this reason.[32][33] For this reason Japan is often said to be a "screwdriver's turn"[34][35] away from possessing nuclear weapons, or to possess a "bomb in the basement
    <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_nuclear_weapons_programs" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_nuclear_weapons_progr...
    This is fact known for a very long time....
    The reason Japan won't have nuke is more so it's politically impossible. Even if USA and LDP wanted to, more than 80%+ of Japan (last survey I read) is strongly against it, and there's no way a reimpretation of the peace constitution can in anyway justify nuke, so a referendum is required
    Japan also have advanced space programs so the method of delivery, is also not something that is something they can develop quickly. (and more recently, also chips etc required)

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