this post was submitted on 02 Apr 2024
70 points (93.8% liked)

Interesting Global News

2644 readers
372 users here now

What is global news?

Something that happened or was uncovered recently anywhere in the world. It doesn't have to have global implications. Just has to be informative in some way.

Post guidelines

Title formatPost title should mirror the news source title.
URL formatPost URL should be the original link to the article (even if paywalled) and archived copies left in the body. It allows avoiding duplicate posts when cross-posting.
[Opinion] prefixOpinion (op-ed) articles must use [Opinion] prefix before the title.

Rules

1. English onlyTitle and associated content has to be in English.
2. No social media postsAvoid all social media posts. Try searching for a source that has a written article or transcription on the subject.
3. Respectful communicationAll communication has to be respectful of differing opinions, viewpoints, and experiences.
4. InclusivityEveryone is welcome here regardless of age, body size, visible or invisible disability, ethnicity, sex characteristics, gender identity and expression, education, socio-economic status, nationality, personal appearance, race, caste, color, religion, or sexual identity and orientation.
5. Ad hominem attacksAny kind of personal attacks are expressly forbidden. If you can't argue your position without attacking a person's character, you already lost the argument.
6. Off-topic tangentsStay on topic. Keep it relevant.
7. Instance rules may applyIf something is not covered by community rules, but are against lemmy.zip instance rules, they will be enforced.

Companion communities

Icon attribution | Banner attribution

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
BrikoX
70
Everyone in Japan will be called Sato by 2531 unless marriage law changed, says professor (www.theguardian.com)
submitted 7 months ago by [email protected] to c/globalnews
12 comments fedilink hide all child comments
top 12 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] [email protected] 31 points 7 months ago (2 children)

Maybe I missed something, but he seems to be using the same math as the guy who projected his baby would gain a weight of a trillion pounds if the rate of increase remains constant.

Not only that, it kinda implies that everyone wants to be a Sato, otherwise they could chose the other surname upon marriage. Which people would most likely do if it is too common. Given this assumption, the option to keep your maiden name wouldn't help (but should still be there).

[–] [email protected] 12 points 7 months ago (1 children)

The article mentions that the woman gives up their name 95% of the time. It's assumed, and implied that the choice is effectively not exercised.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 7 months ago

Assuming the choice is never exercised, couples produce the same amount of children with the same gender distribution regardless of surname and these children are all just as likely to find a partner, in theory, the distribution of surnames should be in equilibrium. Of course ignoring name changes, migration and other things playing into the availability of surnames.

Following this logic, these 5% of couples using the maiden name of the bride are the ones actually leading to any kind of long term change. Which to me implies Sato can only be the surname of a majority if the majority wants it to happen.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 7 months ago

Maybe I missed something, but he seems to be using the same math as the guy who projected his baby would gain a weight of a trillion pounds if the rate of increase remains constant.

Yeah it is weird that he didn't account for the fact that non-Satos would decrease as Satos increase. But then again I don't think this is a serious research work.

[–] [email protected] 20 points 7 months ago

Currently, couples can choose which surname to take. And a lot of pressure has been building for the right to have different surnames on the same family register.

(And thanks to gaijin like me, new surnames are being introduced into Japanese lineage all the time.)

Riddle me this, Professor: With the native birthrate at an all-time low, and the influx of foreign residents at an all-time high, how long until 50% of Japanese surnames are written in katakana?

[–] [email protected] 8 points 7 months ago

The Japanese are so efficient

[–] [email protected] 8 points 7 months ago

I already think it's weird that people taking their partner's surname is an option at all, since that's not how we roll over here. And the conservative objection listed here is more absurd than the warning. By a lot.

That said, wouldn't the biggest impact be on the way children are named instead? On a cycle of multiple generations whether your partner takes your name or not is irrelevant, the only relevant issue is what surname the kids have.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 7 months ago

We'll probably have bigger concerns in 500 years

[–] [email protected] 2 points 7 months ago (1 children)

I posted this in another thread on this article:

The math is wrong.

You can't apply exponential growth to the proportion of a total.

Growing from 1% to 2% (a 100% gain) is equally a reduction from 99% to 98%, a 1.01% drop.
Going from 99% to 100% (a 1.01% gain) is equally a reduction from 1% to 0%, an infinite drop.

Simple exponential modeling is the wrong tool.

[–] anon 1 points 7 months ago

You mean 1.01 times gain? As 1.01% mean 1.01/100 = 0.0101

[–] [email protected] 1 points 7 months ago

Sounds interesting lol

[–] [email protected] 1 points 7 months ago

that's not very hardy-weinberg of him