Regarding the Jan. 19 editorial "Revitalizing rural Japan": The depopulation of Japan is a cultural/social problem caused by the Japanese male. Let's face it, Japanese women don't want to marry a man who looks down on them, treats them with disrespect and tells them they should do only as they're told. I live in a very rural community and it's even worse here.

Many sons of Japanese farmers must go outside Japan and pay for a woman who will marry them. In many cases, these women are from China and the Philippines. The women are brought to Japan for the purpose of having a child for the family and working themselves to death on the farms. Life is a living hell for some, but it is better than where the women came from in most cases.

Japanese women want nothing to do with Japanese men who expect to be waited on at home, hand and foot, 24/7. In addition, they resent the man's lifestyle of staying out as he pleases, coming home drunk and not being engaged in raising the children.

If Japan wants to increase its population, then the male Japanese is going to have to change and accept women as equals. It's just that simple. Until this happens, many single Japanese men will have to live at home with their mothers taking care of them.

denny pollard
takahata, yamagata

The opinions expressed in this letter to the editor are the writer's own and do not necessarily reflect the policies of The Japan Times.