Taro On Conscription

Today I am really unhappy with the approval of the governer of Miyazaki, the southern part of Japan for conscription as a way of educating young people. I respect him, but I do not respect it.

He was a famous comedian in the TV programs in Japan, and had a dream to join the government in his home country, Miyazaki. After he learned about local administration at university, he at last made his dream come true and now presides at the government of Miyazaki.

I think that he is a diligent governer and proposes new policies actively to the assembly. Now, many Japanese have paid attention to how his action will change the local administration in Japan. I also enjoy watching his action in his local administration. I see him as a new leader in a local administration in Japan.

However, I saw the article in a newspaper that reported that he agreed about conscription. It's sad! Let me explain my reason:

There may be many kinds of opinion about this matter. I do not like conscription. The reason is clear: it spoils the time of the young people. My reason for disagreement is always related to economics, and today it is also economically rational. I always think that any policymaker should judge by a rational thought, not morality. The favor of the governer of Miyazaki for conscription is rather a little too moral than rational.

The reason that the governer of Miyazaki favored conscription is that conscription is one of the best opportunities to give lax young people a good education and discipline in a modern affluent society in Japan. As you know, in many modern developed countries like Japan there have been many young people who are not working but leading an idle life all day long by working a part-time job, which has become serious as a social problem to solve. Especially in Japan, due to the past long-lasting recession, many young people still can't find good jobs. Although the Japanese economy has recovered recently, it is still not easy for many young people to find good opportunities to work for, and it seems that the impact of the past recession on the employment of young people is still left over.

One of the reasons for the existence of unemployed young people that many people have is laziness of the young people. Young people are generally grown up to be adults in a good environment, and so many of them don't have any experience of hardship in their life, which always makes people strong and patient, as some pundits say in Japan.

Certainly, there seems to be some truth in what they say, but I do not think that many young people (of course, including me!) are so lazy that they can enjoy an idle life, because it could be thought that the recent working conditions in the Japanese business society have gone worse than those around 10 years ago. It is thought to be because of the structural change of the industry in Japan. For the examples of bad working conditions in Japan, working overtime and unpaid working, especially in small (and medium-sized) businesses in Japan, are traditionally common. These problems are still unchanged at present even though these were once criticized as a serious problem of dumping in international trade between the US and Japan by the US government about 20 years ago.

I wrote about this topic in Japanese here, so I do not repeat it. However, it is natural that many young people avoid working in paying no wage. In my thought, we cannot deny that bad working condition keeps young people from working as they hope. There also seems to be something true.

If policymakers think of conscription as a way to make young people strong and patient under any hardship in their life, it is wrong! If policymakers think so, I would like them to consider another way to educate them:

In my opinion, government should give lax young people a opportunity to work for for a short period. Conscription also becomes a good opportunity for them to work in some way, but it brings no value in the economy, that is, it doesn't go a long way to many other people in the society. It only does well at the front of national crisis, but Japan now faces no crisis although North Korea points nuclear missile at Japan (North Korea is not a menace to Japan!!).

What does conscription give for us? - Nothing!

For example, it would be a good idea that government makes lax young people collect garbage and clean the street in the town. In Japan, these governmental projects have been done already, especially for elder people who have no jobs. If you went to the city in Osaka, you could see a lot of elder people collecting garbage in the street.

It became a little long essay, but finally I conclude by saying that conscription is not a way to educate young people. Consider a way to make young people go a long way for our society!!