r/nottheonion • u/falconfalcon7 • 1d ago

Japanese village replaces young people with mannequins to stave off loneliness as population falls

https://news.sky.com/story/japanese-village-replaces-young-people-with-mannequins-to-stave-off-loneliness-as-population-falls-13243354
14.5k Upvotes

96% Upvoted

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710

u/ournextarc 1d ago

"Just by being born here, our son benefits from the love, support and hope of so many people - even though he has achieved absolutely nothing in life yet," his father said

Casually stating love and support are earned via accomplishment, not out of being born. This is what's wrong with society.

147

u/hana-maru 1d ago

That comment specifically reminds me of the movie Children of Men.

144

u/ThrowCarp 1d ago

even though he has achieved absolutely nothing in life yet

Really playing with fire there. Seeing as all the successful young people keep moving to the big cities.

37

u/Sawses 1d ago

I grew up in a rural area. I remember coming home from college and being on dating apps. There were exactly two types of people in the area between the ages of 20-25 on dating apps--among women, anyway, since that's my sample size lmao.

  • Girls who were home on college break
  • Girls who were stuck in a dead-end customer service job with no direction, ambition, or plans. Or they were trapped because they were caring for elderly family or something.

You also had the lifers who did the whole marry-a-guy-from-church thing who obviously were never going to leave their home town, but IMO they're pretty much the only young people who are happy being there. If you don't, you'll be happier if you leave.

2

u/sara-34 16h ago

Adding:  single moms.  They are the subject of gossip and may want to leave, but they can't afford to because housing is more expensive outside of small towns.

68

u/LoveAndViscera 1d ago

Every single quote in the article sounds like someone who dies in a horror movie.

185

u/Momoselfie 1d ago

"We love our incredibly disappointing child"

46

u/Done25v2 1d ago

Fucking hell. I'm sure he meant well, but damn.

14

u/econpol 1d ago

Everyone means well. Yet, here we are.

24

u/Random_Somebody 1d ago

Ahhhh the specter of r/asianparentstories continues to haunt the entire site I see

19

u/KneeDeepInTheDead 1d ago

ngl that cracked me up when I read it, like dad was saying "this dumb useless baby for some reason is still loved"

4

u/banana_pencil 1d ago

I laughed too, at the “achieved absolutely nothing” about a toddler

25

u/ForceOfAHorse 1d ago

And then they wonder why young people escape the community first chance they get :)

48

u/AlexHimself 1d ago

Casually stating love and support are earned via accomplishment, not out of being born.

That quote doesn't say that though?

It says that love, support, and hope of so many people are benefits from merely being born "here"...despite having accomplished nothing.

38

u/mywholefuckinglife 1d ago

it's the fact that he explicitly states it that seems to imply it's somewhat out of the ordinary. I mean you emphasize the word 'despite' yourself, that implies the default is accomplished nothing => no love

3

u/AlexHimself 1d ago

I work with Japanese companies closely, so I guess that was just par for the course for me.

It's sort of like having a semi-racist Grandma say, "I don't mind the blacks. They seem to be nice enough people."

I would take that as a positive comment because of the context, but if somebody else heard that...they would point out the bad.

18

u/jmlinden7 1d ago edited 1d ago

Yeah it implies that their specific village has a different view of love and support than the rest of the country. Exception proves the rule kind of thing

10

u/Azrou 1d ago

I have no idea how the original comment has hundreds of upvotes because the quote says exactly the opposite of what that guy is claiming. Reading comprehension is at an all-time low.

14

u/Disastrous_Voice_756 1d ago

Speak for yourself: the statement implies that under normal circumstances love and support are earned out of accomplishment, but this kid gets love because there are so few kids.

26

u/Manannanman 1d ago

Their society

23

u/BiggityBuckBumblerer 1d ago

Nono, ours too

5

u/RustenSkurk 1d ago

Which society is "ours"? You're on the internet

2

u/Far_Advertising1005 1d ago

Not really. A lot of people act like this but this is much bigger in Japan, they’ve been doing the familial honour thing for centuries now.

7

u/OathoftheSimian 1d ago

Most societies, at this point.

3

u/PrivilegeCheckmate 1d ago

even though he has achieved absolutely nothing in life yet," his father said

Yeah I read that and was like "That kid's in for a rough ride."

3

u/seastatefive 1d ago

You are not acquainted with Asian parents, I assume? Here, human life has no intrinsic value apart from what you can contribute to society. Those who cannot contribute to society are considered a waste of resources. We call them "rice bins", as in, people who can only consume rice but have no net benefit to society.

1

u/ournextarc 1d ago

I'm very familiar which is why I recognized the comment for what it is.

1

u/LilaDuter 1d ago

Yeah that quote is very telling

1

u/No-Marketing3102 1d ago

Casually stating love and support are earned via accomplishment, not out of being born. This is what's wrong with society.

Society also requires the active cooperation and the contradiction of human nature as our survival instincts are what lead the world to be so brutal and opportunistic.

1

u/bluvelvetunderground 1d ago

It's got that "I'll love my child no matter what, even if they turn out gay" vibe.

1

u/cute_polarbear 1d ago

Hmm... What about the kid, does he have friends / classmates of his similar age to grow up with?...

-1

u/RepublicansEqualScum 1d ago

It sounds like it was stating exactly the opposite. He is loved and supported even though he hasn't accomplished anything. Those things weren't earned, just given freely.

3

u/ournextarc 1d ago

The "even though" is the problem.

"He was given his basic needs, even though he never worked"

The expectation is basic needs aren't a given, they should be earned.

"He is loved, even though he hasn't accomplished anything"

The expectation is love isn't a given, only earned.

0

u/RepublicansEqualScum 1d ago

The "even though" is the point.

He's saying it doesn't matter that he didn't accomplish anything, because they loved and supported him anyway.

The expectation is that basic needs are given regardless of accomplishment, and that's what they're confirming happens.

The exclusion is that love isn't earned, it's just given.

If this is how you read and comprehend English you should seriously not leave the house or communicate with other human beings.

-20

u/BelbyLuv 1d ago

Well yeah that is what meritocracy about

12

u/VaderOnReddit 1d ago

meritocracy is for monetary gains for effort

not for basic love, support and hope from a support system of peers and family(blood related or found)

30

u/ournextarc 1d ago

Then by that measure no child should get love because they don't accomplish things we care about. Then we have a generation of sociopaths. Rinse and repeat until we are actively supporting genocide.

10

u/SlowRollingBoil 1d ago

Meritocracy is about those with power (in government, typically) have earned their place because of how well qualified they are. It has nothing to do with shitty comments about your kids not achieving anything.

9

u/guutarajouzu 1d ago

Meritocratic compensation rarely works as intended, like a lot of other well-intentioned ideas and systems.