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Comment by Panoramix | Hacker News Reader

Irrelevant. There's no link between population decline and startup culture. There are still millions of young people growing up over there. There are multiple reasons not to go to the US, with language and atrocious visas at the top of the list.

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Err, is too. As one simple example, when the electorate is heavily skewed towards older people (and in Japan, and this skew is further exacerbated by how low-density rural areas have higher weight in the Diet), politicians will enact policies that favor the elderly at the expense of the young, Japan's increasingly Ponzi-like public pension scheme being a prime example.

The pension scheme is a bad example as it was put in place in 1961[1] long before Japan experienced it current population decline. Furthermore recent government actions have been towards weakening the yen which will adversely effect the elderly and pensioners (who are on fixed incomes).

Unlike the US, there does seem to be a recognition that people are part of the economy of the country and that there are mutual shared interests in making things work. The issue seems to be more in the speed and adeptness at which changes are made.

That being said, the biggest obstacle to start-ups in Japan is the Japanese aversion to risk. The most talented people would rather work for peanuts in large Corporations or in secure Government jobs rather then risk failure in a start-up.

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Pension

What kind of policies would better favour the young?

There seems to be a lot of "don't give old people this" whenever the question of age-based rules comes up.

Policies that encourage internships and entry level recruitment of young workers. Policies that encourage the supply of child care, schools, university access and other services to support families. Access to family medical insurance.

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