On the trail of the 'Johatsu,' Japan's 'evaporated people' (2017)

One interesting thing is that as Japanese rural train services disappear due to becoming unaffordable when the countryside empties out, the bus services meant to replace them also have issues finding bus drivers.

Obviously the low birth rate and population drop means there are just straight up less people, especially in the countryside, but also obviously there's still enough people to make Tokyo among the most population-dense metropolitan centers in the world.

Japanese society itself strongly eschews individualism in favor of uniformity and conformity, and there are many social etiquettes and mannerisms that further complicate human interactions and relations. Depending on how social and expressive you are, it really can be tiring enough that you might want to avoid extraneous interactions.

Japan has also been fond of mechanical constructs since time immemorial. In ye olde days it was karakuri ningyous (mechanized puppets), and in more recent times it has been robots ranging from the cute (Doraemon) to the super (GaoGaiGar, et al.) to the fantastical (Evangelion, et al.) to the "real" (Gundam, et al.) to really advanced vending machines and companion robots (eg: Aibo). Japan simply doesn't share the west's fear of machines (read: Terminator, HAL, et al.).

In short, while the west holds human interactions and relations as absolute necessities for a proper society, in Japan they entail a lot of social baggage. A lot of Japanese happily prefer the warm glow of a vending machine to a cashier, as sad as that might sound to many here.

I suspect OP's parents might have been caught in the peak of this wave. It takes Japanese exceptionalism to illogical levels. Everyone caught a glimpse of this during COVID, when television presented a theory that the Japanese language didn't spread the virus.

I also speak Japanese fluently as to be indicernible from native speakers and visit Japan on a nearly annual basis to see family and friends across the pond. I'm practically Japanese in everything but birthplace and nationality, Japanese folks just assume I'm one of them unless I mention to them otherwise.

You're quite welcome to disagree and engage in discourse, but I would appreciate more credibility and substance than "I'm a foreigner who's been to a festival and an onsen".

I'm curious; are you also arguing that you are less credible than the parent poster?

My opinion, based on living in Japan and spending a lot of time around Japanese people, is the generalizations likely applies to a large portion of the population, but I have doubts whether it even applies to the majority.

Doesn't that mean they are losing 30%~ of their pre-tax income on this? Keep in mind that pachinko players often aren't that particularly wealthy, so more than 30% really.