IT TAKES A CONCERTED EFFORT TO MAKE A CULTURE ANTI-HUMAN:

Japan bans suburban sprawl as population slips (AFP, 5/24/06)

The Japanese parliament banned new large shopping malls in suburbs in a bid to prevent the hollowing out of urban centers as the population shrinks.

Despite opposition by the business community, the upper house of parliament unanimously backed the proposal amid worries that American-style sprawl would be unhealthy as Japanese have fewer children. [...]

Japan has seen a more than decade-old shift toward the suburbs by residents who buy cars to flee the famously high rents inside the densely populated cities.

But the Japanese population fell for the first time in peacetime last year and at current rates is expected to be cut to 60 million, or less than half the current total, by 2100. [...]

More Japanese young people are putting off starting families, finding them to be a burden to their careers, finances and lifestyles.

Trapping folks in cities is a sure way to make them court extinction.

Posted by Orrin Judd at May 25, 2006 9:21 AM