7/31/25 collage, 14x18” on bristol
BELOW: 7/31/25 COLLAGE yesterday (left) and at the end of my painting day today
BELOW: 7/29/25 COLLAGE as it looked on 7/29 (left) and following today’s changes
1:59 PM: i worked on yesterday’s 7/31/25 collage and completed it, rtaher elegantly i’d say. and i also simplified and improved 7/29/25 collage, which retained some of the more successful elements fropm the previous verson and getting more white space, allowing the entire composition to breathe deeply.
Japan’s Quiet Rebellion Against Growth: Instead of striving for more, Japan simply chose less
Something strange is happening in Japan—not with its politics or its technology, but with its spirit. Quietly and without fanfare, the country appears to be opting out of the global race for growth. Its economy is stagnant, its birth rate declining, its appetite for innovation dulled. But more striking than the numbers is the cultural shift behind them. Young Japanese are not merely failing to strive—they are choosing not to.
They are working fewer hours, skipping promotions, and living modestly. They are renting instead of buying, saving rather than investing, and increasingly uninterested in romantic or sexual relationships. To Western economists, this is deeply troubling. To politicians, it’s a puzzle. To the people living it—it may not be a problem at all.
What if this isn’t economic malaise, but existential clarity?
The American Dream, like the postwar Japanese dream, has long equated freedom with consumption. But freedom might also mean the ability to stop consuming, to step off the treadmill without shame, and to find dignity in simplicity.
READ THE FULL ARTICLE HERE:
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2025/7/31/2336178/-Japan-s-Quiet-Rebellion-Against-Growth-Instead-of-striving-for-more-Japan-simply-chose-less?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=trending&pm_medium=web
