I don't think it's the social aspect that needs to be elevated. There's grumpy children haters, sure, but I think people in general respect parents.

I think it's more about space to have children and also have your own life and autonomy. Two working people will not have enough time for one child, and one working person won't make enough money for two children.

OkCupid was free and great before it got bought by Match Group

It's not that that money makes you richer, it's that that amount of money enables you to raise a kid and still enjoy the same things you have now.

If I had a kid now on my income, I would have to give up on travel, couldn't dream of visiting my parents, and when my computer died I wouldn't be getting a new gaming PC for sure.

In Japan you already get about $100 a month per kid. It's something good but I don't think it's changed anybody's mind.

Japan's work life balance has also been improving, and work from home is becoming more common too.

Recently there was a thread on /r/japanlife about how Japanese happiness rate was 51%. The answers were what you'd expect -- crazy work hours, evil senpai that nobody talks back to, rampant sexism, basically a description of showa era Japan.

But the happiness level was 71% in 2011.

This is definitely a big part of it. Marketing is a trillion dollar mind control industry and it works very well. We are very preoccupied keeping up with the Jonses. And on top of that we're cyberdrug addicts.