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I just want to notice that most people have been told by the economy in recent years that more people are needed to fulfill all jobs because the economists wanted to increase the supply of workers and therefore push the wages down.

Recently, economists have started understanding that this (AI) wave of automation/innovation might indeed be the last one, the one that reduces demand for human labor without creating more new jobs as a side-product. As such, the number of workers needed declines. Since economists would favor lower taxes, they try to limit Universal Basic Income to a minimum, but that implies fewer people to pay for. As such, they are taking a "lower fertility rate is better" stance now. We're gonna see a lot of "news articles telling us that the falling birth rate is a good thing" in the near future. It just takes a significant effort to spread that message in the population.

Legalize weed, get more liberal, and allow some immigration and my useless ass would love to live there

Demographics falling is bad because of inflation targeting. Everyone must consume 2% more this year than they did last year, so the money supply must grow dramatically as demographics age and spending slows.

The mortgage then acts as a gatekeeper in our fiat system, by locking up an inelastic good necessary for survival and procreation behind a paywall that scales with low interest rates, and can only be unlocked by taking on a mortgage and completing the payment obligations.  This ensures that the financial system has a steady stream of obligations that help sustain the flow of currency, every new mortgage is new money supply that benefits existing asset holders.

What we need is to get rid of mortgages. People then need to pay cash or rent, no cheap loans, all loans go toward productivity investment and startups. The government can then build high density rentals near mass transit.

There was a recent kurzgesagt video about this and it really is gonna be a huge problem

My two cents with a decade in Japan under my belt:

• work-life balance needs to be fixed (there are recent laws helping this, but not enough enforcement)
• sexism in work (salary gap and gap in leadership is one of the highest in the world)
• do more based on merit than seniority in a number of areas
• more jobs and good universities need to be moved outside of the big city centers; daycare availability is a HUGE problem for people I know with kids or looking to have them (whereas in the countryside where I live, they have free daycare slots available but far fewer jobs and opportunities). This would involve some investment in infra to make things happen as well
• better investment in education and some revamping of the education system; kids are almost never held back here and once they get into uni it's often seen as a free ride to graduation at many schools; this is not the best system for producing the best innovators and Japan needs innovation
• better progress toward digitization; we're woefully behind the times even as many are dragged, kicking and screaming, into more things being online. I still have to send faxes and postal mail to accomplish many things relating to government and taxes. This has a number of costs such as taking time off work to accomplish things in person. Banks are also only open 9-3 M-F with some occasionally having weekend hours. Same with all but an area's "main" post office and other things that just eat into that work-life balance problem by requiring use of time off.
• better education in and participation in government and civics; very few people vote in Japan and I'd like to see that change as I think more engagement would help the people better determine what is best for their future.

Edit to add that the above excludes anything related to immigration as I don't really know the right answer/balance there; the above are things that could help immediately without as much handwaving about "destroying our cultural values!" that some complain about by suggesting such daring things as married Japanese couples having separate surnames (illegal in Japan; if both are Japanese, they must unify to one name).

Edit 2: just saw this elsewhere talking about some changes coming: https://leglobal.law/countries/japan/looking-ahead-2025-japan/

The US in 10 years.

It doesn't help that they pretty much make it so that you're either an English teacher or something else really specific, otherwise you ain't finding a job over there...

People aren't just wageslaves. If there are many, it's easy to see people as a "mass product". If there are fewer, i hope that any individual will be seen with higher value.

They've done nothing, and it's still not improving!