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Comment by nhchris | Hacker News Reader

> it looks like the Japanese would rather die (slowly, and then perhaps very suddenly as the weight of their society can no longer be borne by the next generation) than change.

Countries that do have significant immigration rarely see an increase in the native fertility rate. So the Japanese will die regardless*, immigration just means someone else will also inhabit their country.

In other words, you're offering a solution for the Japanese landmass, not the Japanese people.

*Assuming current trends hold for centuries, which they surely won't.

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> In other words, you're offering a solution for the Japanese landmass, not the Japanese people.

Actually no, because these immigrants are not going to replace the entire Japanese population in one click, rather they will keep the country running and prevent the economic system from crashing in front of new Japanese kids.

Basically supplement the needed kids to reach/exceed the replacement rate.

I doubt that's going to be the majority of kids in the case of Japan.

> immigrants are not going to replace the entire Japanese population in one click

Same thing, just gradual instead of instant.

Only if Japan is absolutely not having any new native kids, which isn't true.

As I said the goal here is to supplement native kids with immigration, not replace them.

Do you think if you replace Japanese kid with some other kid it will magically become Japanese? It doesn't work in Germany.

I think Germany knows that there are no other option, they need more skilled workers and they need more kids.

Kids are way way easier to integrate than adults, so for immigration, they are probably the best subject.

This applies to Japan too, the difference is they don't accept reality.

It mostly doesn't work because it's very difficult for the children of immigrants to become German citizens. For a country where it works, see e.g. the USA. Germans, Irish people, Chinese people, etc. etc. have all 'magically' turned into Americans over the course of the country's history.

I think its kind of unfair to compare america to Germany.

America is really an immigrants country, and its easy to integrate there compared to countries which have less of a globalized culture, such arguably Germany and maybe the UK.

That’s up to Germany, right? If racial purity is a requirement for being German then it will be harder to integrate immigrants. I’d suggest just dropping the requirement. The UK has much less of a problem with the concept of ethnically diverse British people (though it still has a long way to go).

Anyone who thinks that it takes ‘magic’ to turn someone who was born in Germany or Japan into a German or Japanese person is implicitly subscribing to some bogus theory of racially pure nations. (See e.g. your sibling comment, by someone who’s persistently been repeating far right talking points over the past few months.)

I didn't mean racial purity, rather how specific German culture and the German language with all of its dialects is to Germany. Its not very globalized like American culture.

Kids who grow up in Germany will grow up speaking the local dialect of German and internalize the local culture. There's not much of a problem there. That is, unless you are someone who thinks that language and culture are tied to race. While I am not suggesting that you personally think this, it's an idea that clearly lurks in the background of these sorts of concerns (as you can see elsewhere in this thread).

Ah now I get your point :).

I agree, there will be difficulties for sure, but immigration is at its easiest for children.

Not professing debunked blank-slatist pseudoscience is far right?

Yet Americans still divide themselves by race. The only reason they can all be called 'American' is because of the country's multiracial nature, not because they have abandoned in-group preference, as the many ethnic lobbies and general political climate attest to.

In contrast, Japan represents a small number of peoples, and it's laughable to suggest that someone can become Japanese or German by a mere act of bureaucracy.

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