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AnonymousAlthough the projections indicate that Asia's upside-down family structure, due to low fertility, will cause a decline of 86 million people by the year 2025, some believe that Asia will follow the European trend and adapt. The premise is that is takes time for fertility rates to adjust to radical new social norms, like nearly universal female literacy in East Asia, and high numbers of women who are college graduates and career-driven.
AnonymousLow wage-earning men in South Korea have a hard time finding wives, and so some have taken to paying a broker to help them find a bride in Vietnam, where women think they will find a better life in South Korea. Both the men and the women might be facing pressure from their families to do this, but many of the marriages are falling apart due to language and cultural barriers. ("We're not able to reveal deep things.") This is why the South Korean government is funding 'bride schools', where the future brides can learn a tiny bit of the South Korean language and culture before they go to live with their husbands. Now, however, visas are only given to wives if they share a language with their new husbands.
AnonymousIn 2015, President Park's government clashed with the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions over protests opposing labor bills, and an unjust government in general. The court issued an order allowing police to go into a Buddhist temple to arrest Han San-gyun, who led the protests. This was a departure from the norm, where religious facilities are allowed to give asylum to political refugees.
Currently in South Korea, President Park has been impeached by parliament, as of last December, 2016. There were protests in South Korea just this week with people urging the Constitutional Court to uphold the impeachment, which was based on accusations of collusion with a friend to get big businesses to donate to two of President Park's foundations.
AnonymousJapan's Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe asked for possible solutions to the country's declining working-age population. He rejected immigration as an answer, but looks to funding kindergarten and elderly care completely, in order to allow the working-age people to contribute to the economy rather than full-time care of a baby or elderly relative. There were other options offered, such as tax breaks for the poor, or to companies who move out of the capital to make it easier and cheaper to raise families.
AnonymousPrime Minister Shinzo Abe, of Japan, would like a 'robotics revolution.' Japan is in the midst of the 'tightest labor market in 23 years'. So with the use of machines to aid in the labor, workers are able to improve their productivity by 77%. Robots not only do a lot of the difficult work in factories, they also can be worn by people to help them reduce or remove strain on the body from bending and heavy lifting. Not only are robots employed, but other types of machines/technology, as well. Tablets are linked to a system of cameras that help workers to keep a constant eye on patients in nursing homes, reducing the number of falls, and etc.
AnonymousLin Li-chan believes her move to Taiwan as a 'foreign bride' was fated, now that she is a Taiwanese citizen and running for office (she won and is now in office). Her widowed mother felt there was no choice but to resort to a broker to find a husband for her in Taiwan. She could not speak Chinese when she moved there, and faced judgement based on negative perceptions of 'foreign brides', as though they were there as money-scamming con-artists. After she went to school and eventually got her master's degree, she decided to run for office to further her campaign for new immigrants.
I have non-citizen immigrants in my classroom. This short, inspirational story will be a good one to share with my class.
AnonymousWow. This article is chock-full of data about the pollution in China's air and water; overwhelming data, actually. Such a huge contrast between Japan's life expectancy and China's, at 75.3. Another astounding fact was that in 2014, China 'was responsible for 27% of global emissions.' Groundwater supplies in 60% of major cities are bad or very bad, and many rivers are 'unfit for human contact.' This is not just China's problem. This pollution affects much of the globe, but there are many people working through thousands of NGO's (Non-governmental operations) to alleviate it. China's government itself is also putting forth about 600 billion dollars to clean up the air and water.
Our students really need to know that the decisions of every person, business, and government can positively or negatively affect others and the planet, and that some negative affects may be irreversible.
AnonymousAlthough the article on Asia's demographic crisis stated that eventually Europe closed it's "culture lag" and cultural norms began to shift, I wonder that will be possible for many of the Asian countries that are going through this? I don't necessarily think it will be due to industrialization but could it be more related to the longer and more deeply rooted history and faith? We will have to wait and see what the future hold for these countries.
AnonymousThe readings are very interesting this week. As I was reading them, I charted the common issues trying to figure out the underlying big idea. It was effects of industrialization, globalization, urbanization, technological advances... and then I began to question like "gbenn".
1. Are these issues really unique to Asia?
2. Which group in society has the most to benefit from all these changes?
3. In a global economy, how will different countries maintain local social harmony?
AnonymousThe three dominant countries in East Asia are all confronted with crises, with South Korea and Taiwan (China) facing a shortage in marriages. South Korea and Taiwan are seeking mailed-order brides, but the government are cracking down and regulating these services to prevent abuse and the increasing dissolution of marriages between the men and the "brides." This is a result of the high number of men who are looking to marry young wives in order to continue the family lineage. However, in Japan, an increasing number of elders and a lack of pay made the use of robots more appealing because of the lackluster pay for females in the workforce. In China, the increased urbanization and "Industrial Revolution" is shifting the demographic from a rural area to a more urban area resulting in pollution that are leading to long-term health risks for their citizens. All of these crises are changing the demographic of the various Asian countries. Therefore, these various societies will need to come up with solutions that are practical and achievable in order to keep growing as a country.
AnonymousHi Tuanpham,
I agreed that the issue are not just unique to the Asian countries, but they have to find a way to address the problem if they want to continue to thrive in this global economy.
AnonymousI had heard that areas in Asia were facing shortages in people wanting to be farmers, that many of the younger generation wanted to move to cities to make money. Whether this was a family or government plan I don't know. However I didn't realize that the work shortage was going into industrial areas as well. I wonder if the use of machines will create more of a problem than it is solving, though. When a company only needs 3 or 4 workers to maintain a machine that will do the work of 10 to 100 workers, why would companies need or want to higher more people that would require wages, benefits and finding others to fill in when a worker quits, retires, is sick or injured?
In addition, with the lack of wage earning potential, I can see how the choice of family or job to support what you have would make choosing work easy. I noticed that they mentioned there are countries that are more family-work compatible, but change is really difficult. In the U.S. we say we are progressive, but women are put in the position of returning to work when their babies are only 6 weeks old, unless there is a medical issue, and men don't always even get that much time with their newborns.
AnonymousThis article is about low birthrates in East Asian countries caused by social, economic and political reasons. It offers a solution by examining how Europe adapted to overcome its own demographic crisis in the last century. This included changing gender roles and government assistance with child care. Also, Europe has a long tradition of immigration, mostly from its former colonies after the Second World War. This article gives valuable insight into our own demographic paradigm. Unlike Japan, Taiwan, Korea and China, the United States has always benefited from immigration to help shore up labor shortages. Aside from periodic upticks of Nativism, immigration has had a valued place in our society. Unfortunately, the recent presidential election of Donald Trump, fueled by anti-immigration sentiment, has cast a pall once more on this aspect of American life. Besides recognizing the net benefit of immigration, the new president and his supporters should follow Europe's example and assist struggling families by subsidizing child care and other programs that have been proven to increase both fertility and economic productivity.
AnonymousI wondered if these issues were specific to Asian countries, as these could be global themes. However, it seems like they are important in looking at the future of a place that has been marginalized by low-fertility rate. It's interesting to look at how the themes are setting trends for the country and also how they might be influenced by the Western world.
AnonymousThe article that struck me the most focused on robots replacing humans in the workforce. I found it interesting that Japan has and is still investing in using machinery to take over the work that humans used to do in the past. I feel awful for the elderly who have been misplaced due to the fast growing technology in Japan. I was wondering how the "young folks" are thinking about their future? It seems that they know where they are heading in a couple of years; are they concern? Do they have plans for their future? More likely, these robot machines will replace humans in a couple of years in Japan.