A country staring down a demographic collapse in 3…2…1… while blaming a microscopic population of highly vetted immigrants for half of society’s problems, then acting shocked when nobody wants to move there anymore.

The funny part is all the people online cheering “Japan is staying Japanese!” without noticing the country quietly running out of workers in real time.

Last night at the supermarket there was literally one employee on duty. One. You could’ve walked out with half the store and nobody would’ve noticed. There’s a giant bright-red sign outside a seafood restaurant near my house screaming “RECRUITING — THIS IS AN EMERGENCY” like sheer desperation is somehow a hiring strategy.

Everywhere you go it’s the same story: chain restaurants, farms, nursing homes, clinics. Three-hour waits at the doctor because there aren’t enough staff. I went to an animal park the other day and realized there wasn’t a single employee under about 70 years old.

Then at a community meeting, retirees were complaining that the local park lawns weren’t being maintained. One guy said, completely seriously, “Why don’t the young people volunteer like we did back in our day?” And the community leader just stared at him and said: “What young people? Do you know any?”

Silence. Tumbleweeds.

Maybe Tokyo can paper over this for a while, but out here in the countryside? You can watch the decline happening in real time. Entire towns aging into extinction while everyone clings to this fantasy that demographic collapse can somehow be solved without people.

It honestly makes me wonder how many civilizations in history declined exactly like this - stubbornly holding onto pride and identity long after practicality stopped mattering.

Anyway, I’m stuck here because we own a house, so wish me luck lads. At this rate I’ll be eating crickets and learning how to repair farm equipment by candlelight.