Probably create a culture that promotes family values, makes housing, food and healtcare affordable, and denounces individualism and consumerism. Something that won't be very popular with modern audiences.
No, we have those and they also have low birth rates. It doesn't appear to work. It's like how the countries with the least sexism have even fewer women in STEM.
I’m sorry but when visiting Japan and landing in Tokyo sort of late in the evening I was shocked that people actually fall asleep on the subway and fall down, and this is from overworking. I wouldn’t have believed it had I not seen it with my own eyes.
Then late at night, scores of young men dressed in suits were playing arcade games.
I’ve also heard about those that just give up and live in a room in their parents house.
Japanese shops also have the weirdest assortment of products ever.
This might come off as ignorant as I’ve obviously not experienced the ‘real japan’ but I’m not sure this would be the case if what I mentioned would be a fundamental part of the culture.
Disclaimer: I really enjoyed my time there, espectially out of the big cities and was particularly impressed by the cleanliness and how nice the people were.
When I first visited Japan I went to Akihabara a lot. You can see a lot of "weird" and "only in Japan" things there, but it's not really a good representation of Japanese society. The vast majority of people in Japan don't frequent Akihabara, and many have never even visited it even once.
Is housing in Japan affordable? From what I have heard, it might be OK outside major cities, but the most desirable jobs seem to be overwhelmingly centralized in those cities.
A 60m^2 apartment just around the periferies of the center of tokyo (I'm talking 10 minute train to Shinjuku) costs about 700k in dollar terms[0] if you want to buy it, and between 1500 to 2000 per month if you want to rent it.
Move further away from the center, and the cost drops dramatically. A house near a station that's 30 minutes from Shinjuku the same size above costs half the price (~350k).
[0] If you think about a 100 Japanese Yen as 1 "Japanese Dollar". It's not equivalent to 1 US dollar, but if you adjust for typical salaries and cost of living it comes out about the same, when you are considering the price of housing, etc.
Tokyo, the most popular city, has decent relatively affordable housing. But you have to make some sacrifices on size, and at the very low end, lifestyle (you might have to go to the bath house for showers).
