Wait, why would a middle-aged man promoted to his position on the basis of seniority rather than aptitude want a secretary or even an engineer not at the peak of her attractiveness?

Yes, I am saying there are many businessmen who think with the heads to which they pay most attention. It doesn’t matter if they stand a chance or not.

My wife was working for NHK sorting images and so forth for their internal network database. She could easily be working in a greater position of responsibility but because she was 31 at the time, and deemed possible to get pregnant, they only allowed her a position where anyone could replace her if she had to step out for a few months to give birth.

That’s happened with many people I’ve met and I don’t understand where the thought process comes from. One would think the older you are, generally speaking, the more life experience and possibly work experience you would have. And yet I see 24 and 25 year olds getting jobs that should given to much more experienced woman who are in their early 30’s.

As an actress in Japan as well, once you hit 3-0, your career suddenly takes a big spin. Where does this mentality come from?

I would assume that it would be a lot easier and more cost-effective for a company in Japan to take on a mother returning to work or a young guy who spent too much time at 7-11 than it would to, in effect import labor, but a lot of things that I think would make sense are not seen the same way by large Japanese companies.

I don’t understand why a woman is suddenly a bad employment choice once she turns 30 or why a 22-year-ld in invariably preferable to a 26-year-old or why a 50-year-old trusted to manage a department at one company can’t be trusted to learn a new job. I also don’t understand why a woman would suddenly lose her professional abilities when her boyfriend becomes her husband.

Great Last Word. The issue continues to get played out as an ‘immigration vs. inevitable population decline,’ which is terribly unfortunate.

Still, some bones to pick:

the Japanese are generally hard-working…Just under 40% of Japan’s population works.

It would help to have some clarification there, I guess. With 20% of the nation now over 60, I find it amazing that so much discrimination against the aged goes on (outside of politics). I remember working somewhere that had a 60 year old mandatory retirement age, except for senior managers. They went bankrupt.

The fact that exceedingly few people decide to have children for financial reasons is but one problem with birth subsidies.

And, few people even ‘decide’ to have children. I’d love to see good figured on dekichatta kekkon.

And I’m not sure if the NEETS and freeters need to be encouraged to work so much as companies need to be encouraged to take them. Japan is not a meritocracy, unless you’re already rich.

The government is discussing passing legislation against having mandatory retirement ages, which I would support. But that alone will make little difference. It is too easy to force unwanted emplyees out of a job in Japan.