Richard Osborne
Banned
I just realized that post-war communist Japan probably wouldn't have our Japan's problems with not letting immigrants into their demographically death-spiralling nation.
The Great Crusade (Reds! Part 3)
- Thread starter Aelita
- Start date
As this TL is getting a major rewrite, I suppose that nothing is set in stone about Sweden. For me, Sweden becoming a full-blown nazi Axis power (not even a co-belligerent of sorts like Finland) looked weird, too, but we're dealing with the authorial intent here. @Aelita might have needed nazi Sweden for the dramatic tension (at realism's expense) for all that I know. On the other hand, with rising of another socialist great power in the space of two decades, the support for fascism and nazism from the capitalist elites probably went into overdrive pretty much everywhere, Sweden included.
If the socialist order is brought by the occupying powers, then I think that they will exert some ideological control, at least at first, and will work against xenophobia to be established as part of the 'Japanese road to socialism' (or, if you wish, 'Socialism with the Japanese specifics'). The UASR is patently internationalist, the USSR is a more mixed case, but ITTL, under the powerful American influence, its internationalism will be more genuine post-WW2 than IOTL.
I mean I simply cant see Sweden bringing that much to the table. So I dont see why they would be necessary. And sure the elite might be supporting the fascists but not the people, I would expect them to lean more and more socialists. Though I would not expect them to join in on the Socialist side of the war.
Japan probably won't have the demographic collapse it has had OTL. Guaranteed childcare and maternity/paternity leave can do a lot. Not to mention there won't be the atomization of life under late capitalism that keeps young people from finding partners.
Bookmark1995
Banned
Nor would there be a work ethic that effectively makes Japanese salarymen into serfs for their corporate leadership.
A focus on collective action in general could foster a greater sense of connection with other people
SpookyBoy
Banned
"Atomization" is the honest way of saying "individualism"
OTL contemporary Japanese culture is highly competitive in an unhealthy way that is very well-documented
Bookmark1995
Banned
I'm talking about how people today seem to socialize less.
We have fewer friends and less willing to join clubs.
In Japan, this phenomenon reaches a whole new extreme, with tons of shut-in young adults, called hikikomori, unable to face the world.
Capitalism has a tendency to convert everything into commodities and make you purchase and compete for them individually when they used to be the purview of the social group. Paired with the drive to work more to pay for it, you end up with less organic connections with others, replaced by economic transactions.
Richard Osborne
Banned
I still think a state with workers solidarity and the inevitably of first world birth rates declining because of women getting careers and secular values, would require immigration. I'd imagine mostly with east Asians like Filipinos, Indochinese, Thais, Burmese, Indians, Malaysians, Indonesians, and possibly Pacific islanders like Papuans, poleynesians, Melanesians, and Micronesians. Mostly I like the idea of a multicultural Japan cause timelines where Japan accepts immigration are rare and I like weird cultural fusions. It's why Male Rising is one of my favorite timelines on this site. The idea of Papuan communities in Japan tickles me pink. "Buy our banana and pork sushi at wunji's co-op restruant on Rosa Luxembourg street in west Kyoto!"
SpookyBoy
Banned
Sure, but I don't think it would be quite as extreme as OTL's drop-off
I do think Japan here would eventually begin to grow a community of South East Asians, though, it is worth noting that some of the places you mentioned are meant to be capitalist still in the present day so that would make it harder for them to move
Japan, to me, would be much more likely to see immigration from allied powers than those that will fall outside of the Comintern. So that means Koreans, Chinese, UASR and USSR citizens of varying stripes, Latin America, the parts of Europe that go Red, etc. More broadly, it's likely to change once we hit the modern day but I imagine that the powers that be will be much more interested in trying to encourage cross-pollination of cultures within friendly powers to bind it together. This isn't to say that none of those powers won't receive people from, say, France, India, the U.K., the parts of Asia that they'll control, and the like but far less than the communities who they'll be coordinating policy with directly.
SpookyBoy
Banned
Bear in mind there won't be as much incentive for Koreans/Chinese/Soviets/Americans to emigrate here, it is worth noting though that parts of South-East Asia e.g. Indochina are canonically Red so they are likely big sources here