As you probably know, Shohei Ohtani is an amazing baseball player from Japan.  The good news is that he can throw strikes and hit long home runs.  The bad news is that the next Ohtani may never be born.  Let's see what's happening in Japan:

An advisor to Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has expressed fear that Japan will cease to exist if birthrates continue to fall, which has damaged the economy and social safety net.

In 2022, it was reported that twice as many people died in Japan as were born, with less than 800,000 births and a staggering 1.58 million deaths, according to The Standard.

"If we go on like this, the country will disappear," former Minister of Justice Masako Mori said, acknowledging the record-low birthrate last year. 

"It's the people who have to live through the process of disappearance who will face enormous harm. It's a terrible disease that will afflict those children."

As a result, Kishida has made a commitment to increase spending on children and family, in an effort to stifle the population decline. The report noted that the Japanese population has fallen to 124.6 million from a peak of just over 128 million in 2008, and the rate of decline is only increasing.

So bye-bye, Japan?  Let's hope not, but the numbers and trends are scary.  As someone said, the future belongs to those who show up.  At current rates, a lot of Japanese will not show up.

Low birthrates usually have bad consequences, from too many old people spending holidays by themselves to not enough young people to work; pay taxes; and, very important, defend your homeland.

As the grandfather of three very young ones, I've been doing a lot of thinking about the 21st century.  After all, my grandchildren will live in this century a lot more than me.  I was joking with my oldest one that he will be 80 when the 22nd century comes around.  I just hope they get to see the future version of a very talented Japanese baseball player.

PS: Check out my blog for posts, podcasts, and videos.

Image: Sdgedfegw.