Why does every crank seem to have a weird fixation with Japan’s birth rate? That seems to be the case with Luigi Mangione, the suspect in the shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.
The killing made headlines last week when Thompson was gunned down in New York City in what appeared to be a targeted killing. While business elites and the traditional media condemned the murder, the shooter found sympathy online from Americans victimized by the arbitrary denials of private health insurers.
The comments cut across the political spectrum. When right-wing podcaster Ben Shapiro criticized the left for “celebrating” the killing of Thompson, some of his viewers responded that it’s “not just the left” and said the backlash was a “class-based issue.”
So it’s probably no surprise to discover that a Twitter account that apparently belongs to Mangione is full of right-wing ideas about life and society. And Mangione had a few wild things to say about life in Japan.
Tenga and maid cafes are ruining Japan
The account, @PepMangione (still active at press time, now suspended by X/Twitter), appears to line up with details we know about the accused shooter, such as that he studied computer science at Penn State University and worked in the tech industry. His retweets include comments by right-wing favorites such as Andrew Huberman, as well as tweets referring to how the “woke mind virus” and “equality” are ruining civilization. Standard right-wing textbook opinions.
Based on one of his tweets from April 18th, his opinions about Japan’s birth rate are also pretty textbook right-wing talking points. Which is to say they’re rife with inane, vacuous nonsense.
The full text of Mangione’s tweet reads:
“Modern Japanese urban environment is an evolutionary mismatch for the human animal.
“The solution to falling birthdates isn’t immigration. It’s cultural.
“Encourage natural human interaction, sex, physical fitness and spirituality:
“revitalize traditional Japanese culture (Shintoism, Okinawan karate, onsen, etc)
“ban Tenga fleshlights and “Japan Real Hole” custom pornstar pocket pussies being sold in Don Quixote grocery stores
“replace conveyor belt sushi and restaurant vending machine ordering, with actual human interaction with a waiter
“replace 24/7 eSports cafes where young males earn false fitness signals via Tekken fighting and Overwatch shooting games, with athletics in school
“heavily stigmatize maid cafes where lonely salarymen pay young girls to dress as anime characters and perform anime dances for them”
The text was itself a retweet of a racist missive from an infamous blue-check account on X saying that Japan didn’t need more immigration to solve its birth rate issues. “Japan will be fine as long as it stays Japanese,” the poster wrote.
Considering Luigi Mangione’s points about Japan’s birth rate
Addressing comments like Luigi Mangione’s is akin to reassembling a plate of spaghetti someone’s tossed against the wall. You could, but it’s messy, and what’s the point anyhow? Your dinner’s already ruined.
Still, since he touches on multiple issues we’ve discussed before, I thought I’d do my damnedest.
Birth rates and immigration: Japan’s current leaders clearly don’t see immigration as their sole salvation. Politicians have done everything from fund AI-powered dating apps to giving people cold hard cash if they get married and have kids. There’s also been a years-long push to make preschool more accessible and low-cost. Under former Prime Minister Abe Shinzo, Japan greatly expanded its free daycare program.
That said, immigration is part of the solution – at least temporarily. That’s why immigration to Japan is hitting record levels. The country recently added 14 new immigration categories – mostly in the transportation industry – and is revamping its technical trainee program to make it…well, less slavery-like. Foreigners are increasingly filling jobs in industries that are chronically short-handed.
Revise Shintoism, karate, onsen: This was called the Meiji Restoration. It led to World War II. Since then, Japan has had a firm separation between church and state – and for damn good reason.
Citing “Okinawan karate” as something inherently Japanese is insulting to the Ryukyuan people, the native inhabitants of Okinawa prior to its colonization by Japan.
I have no idea what he’s on about with onsen. They remain quite popular in Japan.
Tenga fleshlights and onaholes: Another standard right-wing trope which holds that viewing sex as pleasurable and enjoying it in and of itself is a threat to civilization. There’s zero evidence that sex toys are linked to declining birth rates. The evidence rather suggests that many Japanese people just aren’t that interested in sex.
Conveyor belt sushi and vending machines: This one is also weird. It fails to recognize that things such as conveyor belt systems, ordering from tablets, and delivering food with cute robots are themselves symptoms of population decline.
As for vending machines, many small restaurants – like ramen shops – use these because they’re run by one or two people and the machines make life easier for the staff.
Replace e-sports with athletics: Japanese schools already have robust athletics programs. Both things can exist.
Stigmatize maid cafes: Pedantic point: Women don’t “dress as anime characters” at maid cafes. They wear Western-style maid uniforms. They may dress as anime characters at concept cafes, which are a different sort of business.
As for a stigma around maid cafes – well, that already exists. They’re hardly “mainstream” Japanese culture. Additionally, while men do constitute the majority of maid cafe customers, women make up about 30% of customers – a not insignificant number.
At any rate, this is just another way to blame women for men’s problems. If you want to see fewer maid cafes, may I instead suggest policies that increase economic opportunities in Japan for young women and address sexual harassment in the workplace.
Why Japanese people actually aren’t having kids
All of this solutioning from outside about Japan’s birth rates always has one thing in common: none of it is based on the actual reasons Japanese people say they aren’t having kids.
A survey from Biglobe last year asked people in the Z Generation why they don’t want children. While 17.7% replied, “it’s the economy, stupid,” a full 42.1% cited non-economic reasons. (40.2% cited both the economy and other factors.)
The top economic reasons for not having kids include:
“I have no confidence that I could raise a child” – 52.3%
“I don’t like kids” – 45.9%
“I’d lose my freedom” – 36%
“I have no hope for Japan’s future it’d be unfair to the kids” – 25%
Call me crazy, but good government policy should probably address these stated reasons for not having kids as opposed to some incel’s weird ideas about fleshlights and maid cafes.
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Sources
UnitedHealthcare CEO shooting latest: Person of interest Luigi Mangione under arrest. ABC News
「将来、子どもがほしくない」Z世代の約5割
BIGLOBEが「子育てに関するZ世代の意識調査」を実施. Biglobe
Japan expanding free preschool, part of Abe’s $17.5bn spending. Nikkei
