…how much do you love the juxtaposition of these two headlines?

The fertility rate article is a bit of a snooze (it’s basically a catalogue of all the failed predictions made by the National Institute of Population and Social Security Research), unless you’re an actuarial scientist or a market researcher. It also contains yet another reminder of the fact that people are getting old here, no babies are being born, and the whole chain of islands is going to implode in about 40 years.

The second one is more interesting because it clearly states the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare’s stance on things: birth control pills “increase the risk of STDs” and the morning-after pill “could encourage promiscuity” (the former excuse was used to justify a NINE YEAR approval process for low-dose oral contraceptives – funny that argument wasn’t raised during the 6 months it took approve viagra…). It’ll take FORever to get approved (although some doctors are just circumventing authorities and importing it privately).
Even if you’re not interested in either story (and I am certainly not suggesting that there is any link between the two) the two headlines together just caught my eye.