J Academy

30/06/2023

茅ケ崎方式名古屋久屋大通校

ニュース英語を学びませんか？
ニュース英語のListeningはビジネス、資格試験、大学受験にも
効果的です。
http://www.j-academy.biz/

【本日のニュース】
Supreme Court Strikes Down Affirmative Action in College Admissions

Justices rule race-conscious admissions policies at Harvard and UNC are unconstitutional

The Supreme Court found it unconstitutional to consider race in university admissions, eliminating the principal tool the nation’s most selective schools have used to diversify their campuses.

Thursday’s 6-3 decision will force a reworking of admissions criteria throughout American higher education, where for decades the pursuit of diversity has been an article of faith.

The watershed decision by Chief Justice John Roberts sets new parameters for the continuing national debate over what criteria should determine who is admitted to the country’s elite institutions and hired into top jobs—crucial springboards for upward mobility in America.

But the immediate impact will be felt in universities that produce a disproportionate share of the nation’s leaders—including the Supreme Court itself, where eight of the nine justices hold degrees from Harvard or Yale.

“For too long,” Roberts wrote, universities “have concluded, wrongly, that the touchstone of an individual’s identity is not challenges bested, skills built, or lessons learned but the color of their skin. Our constitutional history does not tolerate that choice.”

Roberts said admissions officers could consider “an applicant’s discussion of how race affected his or her life, be it through discrimination, inspiration, or otherwise,” he wrote. The difference, he added, is that “the student must be treated based on his or her experiences as an individual—not on the basis of race.”
(WSJ online)

[国際英語基本4000語掲載word]
supreme court 最高裁判所
affirmative action 差別是正措置
race 人種
unconstitutional 違憲
eliminate 取り除く
criteria 基準
tolerate 容認する

[教本掲載外word]
admission　　入学
diversity　　 多様性
article of faith 信仰箇条
watershed　 転換点

聴く力を身につけたいビジネスパーソンのための名古屋の英語リスニング対策専門校 茅ヶ崎方式名古屋久屋大通校。海外派遣、出張や取引先との食事の場など、使える英語を習得しませんか?昇進・昇格のためのTOEIC600点以.....

20/06/2023

茅ケ崎方式名古屋久屋大通校　

茅ケ崎方式は、毎週書き下ろしのテキストとイティブによるナチュラルスピードの音声教材を用いて英語の語順で理解できるようトレーニングします。

http://www.j-academy.biz/

【本日のニュース】
The ‘Taxi Prince’ Is Taking on Uber—and Winning

Challenge in Japan shows how local operators can derail ride-hailing app’s overseas ambitions

Uber has been outmaneuvered in one of the world’s largest taxi markets by the man known as Japan’s taxi prince.

Ichiro Kawanabe is chairman of Japan’s biggest taxi company, founded by his grandfather nearly a century ago. People in the industry say that over the past decade, the taxi-dynasty scion has played a central role in keeping Uber from pole position in the $17 billion market.

First he campaigned to make ride-hailing apps work only with licensed Japanese taxis. Then Kawanabe started his own taxi-hailing app called Go, and some taxi operators said he pushed them to avoid becoming partners with Uber.

Go says it now controls nearly three-quarters of the Japanese mobile ride-hailing market. The rest is largely split among Uber and two other companies. Go recently drew investment by Goldman Sachs.

“Go is uniquely designed for Japan and to work within its regulatory environment,” said Stephanie Hui, Goldman’s global co-head of growth equity. Kawanabe is chairman of Go, which declined to make him available for comment.

Uber says it is investing and growing in Japan, including with its successful Uber Eats business. The market will continue to be a large part of its global mobility strategy, it says.

Local players in other markets overseas have also had success in combating Uber after observing the company’s rise in the U.S.

In South Korea, regulators blocked Uber-style private-car ride-hailing services, and local app Kakao Taxi rose to dominance capitalizing on ties with the domestic taxi industry. Homegrown players similarly beat out Uber in Southeast Asia and China in recent years. (WSJ online)

[国際英語基本4000語掲載word ]
derail 　　脱線させる
overseas 海外の
ambition 野心
investment 投資
combat 闘う
block （行動などを）はばむ

[教本掲載外word]
ride-hailing app 配車サービスアプリ
outmaneuver ～の裏をかく、～よりも上手に立ち回る

聴く力を身につけたいビジネスパーソンのための名古屋の英語リスニング対策専門校 茅ヶ崎方式名古屋久屋大通校。海外派遣、出張や取引先との食事の場など、使える英語を習得しませんか?昇進・昇格のためのTOEIC600点以.....

14/06/2023

茅ケ崎方式名古屋久屋大通校

茅ケ崎方式では、ニュース教材を使用し、英語の語順で
理解できるようトレーニングします。

http://www.j-academy.biz/

【本日のニュース】

Toyota Boss Faces Pushback Over EV Strategy in Shareholder Vote
Some investors want Chairman Akio Toyoda off car maker’s board

Toyota’s annual meeting this year has turned into a showdown over the merits of longtime leader Akio Toyoda’s electric-vehicle strategy, which has been more cautious than some other automakers.

Shareholders including the New York City comptroller’s office, the California Public Employees’ Retirement System and a handful of European asset managers say they have voted or plan to vote to oust several Toyota directors including Toyoda from their board seats at the meeting Wednesday.

While citing governance issues as one reason, they say their vote is also a protest against Toyoda’s policy of not setting a date by which the carmaker’s lineup will be all electric.

“Toyota is failing to lean, like its peers, into a timely transition to an electric fleet,” said Brad Lander, the New York City comptroller. “We want to be persuaded that there is a transition under way and that they’ll take meaningful steps toward an all-EV commitment.”

Toyoda, who became Toyota’s chairman in April after nearly 14 years as president, has been a rare voice of caution within the auto industry when it comes to EVs. Toyoda says the world isn’t ready to go all electric, citing problems such as inadequate charging infrastructure, shortages of battery materials and the reliance of many nations on carbon-emitting fossil fuels for electricity.

[国際英語基本4000語掲載word]
strategy 戦略
shareholder 株主
investor 投資家
showdown 対決
cautious 慎重な
oust 追放する
cite 理由としてあげる
persuade 説得する
inadequate 不十分な
reliance 依存

聴く力を身につけたいビジネスパーソンのための名古屋の英語リスニング対策専門校 茅ヶ崎方式名古屋久屋大通校。海外派遣、出張や取引先との食事の場など、使える英語を習得しませんか?昇進・昇格のためのTOEIC600点以.....

26/05/2023

茅ケ崎方式名古屋久屋大通校

http://www.j-academy.biz/

茅ケ崎方式は英語の習得にはListeningが最も重要であると考えています。Listeningを強化するには背景知識の習得も大切です。

【本日のニュース】
China Has a Youth Unemployment Problem Because College Grads Are Waiting for Jobs That Don’t Exist

Despite economic recovery, young people find it hard to land jobs, and Beijing can’t seem to find a solution

China’s failure to reverse a sharp rise in youth unemployment is becoming a bigger headache for Beijing, with many economists saying the problem reflects a jobs mismatch that could defy government solutions for years.

Joblessness among young people aged 16 to 24 rose to a record of 20.4% in April, significantly higher than a few months ago and far above the prepandemic rate of 13% or lower in most of 2019.

The rise was all the more surprising given that urban unemployment overall fell to 5.2% in China as of April, compared with 6.1% a year earlier.

Some economists believe the job market for young people will get worse before it gets better, with a record 11.6 million college students set to graduate this summer.

A central problem, economists say, is that China isn’t creating enough of the high-wage, high-skill jobs that are sought after by its expanding base of educated young people, many of whom have loftier expectations than previous generations.

Rather than trade down for lower-wage jobs, many young people are opting to wait for more opportunities, even though such opportunities might not be available.

[国際英語基本4000語掲載word]
youth 若者
unemployment 失業
headache 頭痛
opportunity 　 機会
available 手に入れられる

聴く力を身につけたいビジネスパーソンのための名古屋の英語リスニング対策専門校 茅ヶ崎方式名古屋久屋大通校。海外派遣、出張や取引先との食事の場など、使える英語を習得しませんか?昇進・昇格のためのTOEIC600点以.....

23/05/2023

茅ケ崎方式名古屋久屋大通校

茅ケ崎方式は大人の英語の学び直しに最適です。

http://www.j-academy.biz/

【本日のニュース】
In Contrast to China, Japan at G-7 Basks in Newfound Appeal to Companies

Tokyo can boast of political stability and improving economic dynamism, though longer-term challenges remain

TOKYO—You would think this was the capital of a fast-growing Asian tiger economy the way American CEOs are flocking here these days. Apple’s Tim Cook, Google’s Sundar Pichai, OpenAI’s Sam Altman, Intel’s Patrick Gelsinger and Warren Buffett are among the bosses to show up in recent months. Better reserve in advance if you want the hotel’s executive suite.

Japan is a mature economy, not a tiger. CEOs are warming to Japan because it is the un-China.

It is a democracy, a U.S. ally and a safe place to share technology. Memory-chip maker Micron Technology just said it would put $3.6 billion into its Japanese plant, with Tokyo kicking in a chunk.

On Friday, the Nikkei Stock Average hit its highest level since 1990. First-quarter growth was a better-than-expected 1.6% annualized. The Bank of Japan forecasts that output will grow 1.4% in the current fiscal year ending next March, surpassing the prepandemic peak.

Japan might even be exiting its chronic cycle of flat to falling prices known as deflation, weak wages and corporate cash hoarding. Inflation is running at between 3% and 4%. More importantly, wage growth is beginning to catch up, with the leading labor federation reporting an increase of 3.67% after spring wage negotiations, the highest in three decades.

One reason is that the shortage of workers has worsened again. In response, Japan is planning to open the spigot wider to foreign workers and give more of them a chance to live in the country permanently with their families.

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has a spring in his step after hosting President Biden and other Group of Seven leaders in his family’s hometown of Hiroshima.

[国際英語基本4000語掲載word]
boast 自慢する
flock 群がる
mature 成熟した
chronic 　長期にわたる
hoard （食べ物、金銭などを）貯めこむ

[教本掲載外word]
bask in （恩恵などに）浴する
tiger 強敵
spring in one's step 元気な足取り

聴く力を身につけたいビジネスパーソンのための名古屋の英語リスニング対策専門校 茅ヶ崎方式名古屋久屋大通校。海外派遣、出張や取引先との食事の場など、使える英語を習得しませんか?昇進・昇格のためのTOEIC600点以.....

18/05/2023

茅ケ崎方式名古屋久屋大通校

茅ケ崎方式は社会人の「学び直し」「リスキリング」「レカレント教育」に最適です。

http://www.j-academy.biz/

【本日のニュース】
Haunted by Hiroshima, Japanese Leader to Meet Biden With a Push for No Nukes

G-7 gathering in city hit by U.S. nuclear weapon comes as hopes for disarmament grow distant

Nearly 78 years ago, around a Hiroshima bridge not far from where President Biden is scheduled to meet world leaders this week, a 4-year-old boy named Eiji Kishida was walking with his mother. The U.S. atomic bomb dropped by the Enola Gay exploded above them, less than a mile away.

An aunt of the boy who was also in Hiroshima that day recounted what she saw when she found Eiji soon afterward. “His little body,” she said, was “transformed into an unrecognizable melted chunk of flesh. He kept begging for water in a faint voice until his death released him from agony.”

It was one of countless tragedies on Aug. 6, 1945, unnoted then by the wider world as the war neared its end. Today, three relatives of the boy are well-known. One is actor George Takei, a cousin. The second is the aunt, Setsuko Thurlow, now 91, who spoke those words in 2017 when accepting a Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of antinuclear campaigners.

And the third is Mr. Biden’s host in Hiroshima, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. He is the second cousin, once removed, of Eiji Kishida.

Mr. Kishida said he decided that this year’s summit of leaders of the Group of Seven industrialized nations would take place in his family’s hometown, to push for progress on nuclear disarmament.

The leaders are gathering in Hiroshima as the push is losing ground. Russia has repeatedly threatened to use nuclear weapons in its invasion of Ukraine, and North Korea is adding to its nuclear arsenal outside of international controls. The plight of Ukraine, which gave up its nuclear weapons in the 1990s, is teaching countries, if anything, the value of a nuclear deterrent.

[国際英語基本4000語掲載word]
nuke 核兵器
disarmament 軍縮
nuclear arsenal 核兵器の貯蔵量
plight 苦境、窮状
nuclear deterrent 核抑止力

聴く力を身につけたいビジネスパーソンのための名古屋の英語リスニング対策専門校 茅ヶ崎方式名古屋久屋大通校。海外派遣、出張や取引先との食事の場など、使える英語を習得しませんか?昇進・昇格のためのTOEIC600点以.....

12/05/2023

茅ケ崎方式名古屋久屋大通校

茅ヶ崎方式はListeningを基盤としていますが、外国語のListeningでは知らない言葉は聴き取れません。「国際英語基本4,000語」を用いることによって、効率よく一定数の語彙を身に付けることができます。茅ケ崎方式では、3レベルに分けて学習します。

http://www.j-academy.biz/

【本日のニュース】
Your job is (probably) safe from artificial intelligence

Why predictions of an imminent economic revolution are overstated

The age of “generative” artificial intelligence has well and truly arrived. OpenAI’s chatbots, which use large-language-model (LIM) technology, got the ball rolling in November. Now barely a day goes by without some mind-blowing advance. An AI-powered song featuring a fake “Drake” and “The Weeknd” recently shook the music industry. Programs which convert text to video are making fairly convincing content. Before long consumer products such as Expedia, Instacart and OpenTable will plug into Openai’s bots, allowing people to order food or book a holiday by typing text into a box. A recently leaked presentation, reportedly from a Google engineer, suggests the tech giant is worried about how easy it is for rivals to make progress. There is more to come—probably a lot more.

The development of AI raises profound questions. Perhaps most pressing, though, is a straightforward one. What does this mean for the economy? Many have grand expectations. New research by Goldman Sachs, a bank, suggests that “widespread AI adoption could eventually drive a 7% or almost $7trn increase in annual global GDP over a ten-year period.” Academic studies point to a three-percentage-point rise in annual labour-productivity growth in firms that adopt the technology, which would represent a huge uplift in incomes compounded over many years. A study published in 2021 by Tom Davidson of Open Philanthropy, a grantmaking outfit, puts a more than 10% chance on “explosive growth”—defined as increases in global output of more than 30% a year—sometime this century. A few economists, only half-jokingly, hold out the possibility of global incomes becoming infinite.

[国際英語基本4000語]
probably 高い確実性で、恐らく
prediction 予測
imminent （事が）まさに起こりそうな
barely かろうじて
convert 転換させる
profound 深い
adoption 採用
output 産出量　生産高

[教本掲載外word]
overstate 大げさに述べる
get the ball rolling 始める
mind-blowing びっくりするような

聴く力を身につけたいビジネスパーソンのための名古屋の英語リスニング対策専門校 茅ヶ崎方式名古屋久屋大通校。海外派遣、出張や取引先との食事の場など、使える英語を習得しませんか?昇進・昇格のためのTOEIC600点以.....

09/05/2023

茅ケ崎方式名古屋久屋大通校

テキストやニュース教材を使用し、 英語の語順で理解できるようトレーニングします。

随時体験レッスンを受け付けております。
ご予約はこちらから
http://www.j-academy.biz/formmail/

【本日のニュース】
Samsung Is a Case Study in How Manufacturers Leave China

Company still has significant operations in China but its smartphone manufacturing business pulled up stakes years ago

“De-risking” is the latest buzzword describing Western governments’ strategy toward China. While it sounds less ambitious than “decoupling,” the basic idea is similar: reducing reliance on China for manufacturing, especially for key technological goods.

Driven by both geopolitics and commercial needs, the trend seems likely to pick up further steam: Even Apple, the most visible beneficiary of the “made in China” phenomenon in the tech space, is starting to push its suppliers more aggressively toward India and other alternatives. But the practicalities of even a partial move away from China-based manufacturing are daunting.

Luckily there is at least one conspicuous example of a major high-technology company that has successfully relocated large parts of its production apparatus: Samsung Electronics, the global electronics giant and Apple’s smartphone rival.

Samsung still has significant operations in China, including for its crucial memory chip business. But from a head-count perspective, it has been edging away from China for years. The company had over 60,000 employees in China in 2013 according to its 2014 Sustainability Report, but that number had fallen to less than 18,000 by 2021. Samsung closed its last smartphone factory there in 2019.

Lower labor costs in other Asian countries are a big draw. But geopolitics was probably also an important factor. In 2016 and 2017 Beijing and Seoul became embroiled in a major diplomatic spat over South Korea’s plan to host a high-tech U.S. missile defense radar system. In an early preview of the coercive economic tactics that China has employed against a widening range of countries in recent years, Beijing effectively forced the sale of Korean conglomerate Lotte Group’s China supermarket business and curtailed tourist visits to Korea.

One result is that as Apple and other big manufacturers increasingly scope out Vietnam and India, Samsung is already there in spades—which could add up to a significant competitive advantage given the difficulties of replicating China’s scale abroad.

[国際英語基本4000語掲載word]
ambitious 野心的な
reliance 依存
alternative 代替物、選択肢
conspicuous 目立った
apparatus 装置、器具
perspective （未来の）展望
tactics 戦略
curtail 切りつめる

[教本掲載外word]
buzzword 流行語
head-count 従業員数
edge away 徐々に離れる
embroil 巻き込む
spat ささいなけんか
coercive 強制的な

聴く力を身につけたいビジネスパーソンのための名古屋の英語リスニング対策専門校 茅ヶ崎方式名古屋久屋大通校。海外派遣、出張や取引先との食事の場など、使える英語を習得しませんか?昇進・昇格のためのTOEIC600点以.....

29/04/2023

茅ケ崎方式名古屋久屋大通校

毎週書き下ろすニュース教材を使用して茅ケ崎方式による英語学習会を実施しています。

GW期間中も無料体験レッスンを実施します。
5/4、5/5
ご予約はこちらから↓
http://www.j-academy.biz/formmail/

【本日のニュース】
Europe to ChatGPT: Disclose Your Sources

Proposed legislation requires developers to list copyright material used in generative AI tools

Makers of artificial-intelligence tools such as ChatGPT would be required to disclose copyright material used in building their systems, according to a new draft of European Union legislation slated to be the West’s first comprehensive set of rules governing the rollout of AI.

Such an obligation would give publishers and content creators a new weapon to seek a share of profits when their works are used as source material for AI-generated content by tools like ChatGPT. The issue has been one of the thorniest commercial questions to emerge amid a frenzy of AI-powered tools being launched or tested by the likes of Microsoft Corp. and Google owner Alphabet Inc.

European Parliament negotiators plan to insert the new language, reviewed by The Wall Street Journal, in a EU bill that is making its way toward passage, adding measures aimed at regulating a number of aspects of AI. The EU bill is at the forefront of a global push by policy makers to lay down rules for the development and use of AI.

While the drafts of both the bill and the amendments aren’t final, they reflect late-stage agreement among members. The EU states aim to negotiate and pass a final version of the bill later this year.

[国際英語基本4000語掲載word]
disclose 明らかにする
legislation 立法
copyright 著作権
comprehensive 包括的な
obligation 義務
thorny 厄介な
bill 法案
amendment 修正案

聴く力を身につけたいビジネスパーソンのための名古屋の英語リスニング対策専門校 茅ヶ崎方式名古屋久屋大通校。海外派遣、出張や取引先との食事の場など、使える英語を習得しませんか?昇進・昇格のためのTOEIC600点以.....

25/04/2023

茅ケ崎方式名古屋久屋大通校

テキストは毎週、プロのライターが単語や文法の難易度も考慮しながら、レベルごとに作成。ナチュラルスピードでReadingされたものをListening や音読、シャドウイング練習などを繰り返し、英語の語順で聴きとれるよう脳にアプローチしていきます。

GW期間も無料体験レッスンを受けていただくことができます。
ご予約はこちらから↓
http://www.j-academy.biz/formmail/

【本日のニュース】
The Companies That Give Everyone the Day Off When Life Gets Stressful

More executives believe these initiatives are a crucial way to retain and attract employees in a tight labor market

More companies are carving out extra personal days for workers, not for a doctor’s appointment or to run errands, but because of stressful events outside of the workplace.

The decision to offer these types of personal days is one of several moves company executives say they are making to address concerns about employees’ mental health. They are also offering companywide mental-health days and on-site respite rooms.

The moves reflect executives’ belief that addressing mental health directly with their workers is a crucial way to retain and attract the best employees in a tight labor market.

“Mental health is the workplace crisis of our time,” said Lynee Luque, NerdWallet’s chief people officer. “We don’t feel that taking care of mental health is something that should just be lumped in with PTO or sick days.”

Employees at NerdWallet, a personal-finance company, get unlimited paid time off, eight hours per quarter of paid time to do volunteer work and a five-week sabbatical after five years on the job. Executives were concerned it isn’t enough, said Ms. Luque.

So NerdWallet recently began offering four self-care designated days each year. The idea is that the entire company stops working on the same day to make sure everybody feels they can fully disconnect.

[国際英語基本4000語掲載word]
crucial 極めて重大な
retain 保持する
attract 引きつける
employee 従業員
address （問題などに）対処する
concern 懸念
respite 休止期間

[教本掲載外word]
carve out 作り出す
lump ～を一括して扱う
sabbatical 長期有給休暇

聴く力を身につけたいビジネスパーソンのための名古屋の英語リスニング対策専門校 茅ヶ崎方式名古屋久屋大通校。海外派遣、出張や取引先との食事の場など、使える英語を習得しませんか?昇進・昇格のためのTOEIC600点以.....

21/04/2023

茅ケ崎方式名古屋久屋大通校
http://www.j-academy.biz/

ニュース英語のListeningが
ビジネス、TOEIC®、英検®、大学受験にも効果絶大！

【本日のニュース】※実際のレッスン内容とは関係ありません。
New Blood Tests Offer Possible Early Detection of Cancer and Alzheimer’s

Questions include who should be getting them, and what patients should do about positive results

New blood tests are taking on a growing role in early detection of such diseases as cancer and Alzheimer’s, among the most devastating health risks that emerge in aging.

Using a single blood sample, one test released last year can detect early signals for more than 50 types of cancer, including some such as pancreatic cancer for which no routine preventive screening assays have existed up to this point. Other blood tests are proving accurate in detecting amyloid plaques—the proteins that clump together in the brains of Alzheimer’s patients, leading to eventual loss of memory and thinking skills—even before cognitive declines have been experienced.

The emergence of these tests raises such questions as who should be getting them—and what decisions patients and their doctors need to make once they have the information in hand. The Alzheimer’s and cancer tests are expensive and currently not covered by most insurance. When not used correctly, they also could lead to unnecessary concern, anxiety and further testing when there may not be an urgent health issue.

Grail Inc., a Menlo Park, Calif., biotech company, has produced a $949 cancer test called Galleri, intended for patients at higher risk for cancer, including those over the age of 50 or those with other risks such as smoking, obesity or a family history of cancer. It uses DNA sequencing and machine-learning technology to analyze DNA shed by cancer cells in the bloodstream.

[国際英語基本4000語掲載word]
detection 検出
devastating
accurate 正確な
decline 衰え
insurance 保険

[教本掲載外word]
pancreatic cancer　膵臓がん
assay 検定、試験
clump 凝集する
cognitive 認知力の
obesity　　　　　 肥満

聴く力を身につけたいビジネスパーソンのための名古屋の英語リスニング対策専門校 茅ヶ崎方式名古屋久屋大通校。海外派遣、出張や取引先との食事の場など、使える英語を習得しませんか?昇進・昇格のためのTOEIC600点以.....

19/04/2023

茅ケ崎方式名古屋久屋大通校
http://www.jacadmy.biz/

茅ケ崎方式の教材は、すべてニュースを素材にしています。
日本語では既に知っている事柄を英語ではどう表現するのか、つまり「事柄」を媒体として、日本語と英語を結びつける作業はたいへん効果的です

【本日のニュース】
Incredible Shrinking Japan

The great country’s population has fallen for 12 years in a row.

Remember when global elites worried about overpopulation? Tell it to Japan, where the internal affairs ministry announced last week that the country’s population fell in 2022 for the 12th consecutive year, dropping 556,000 to 124.95 million.

This marks the 16th year in a row in which deaths exceeded births, with a record drop in births of 731,000. All of Japan’s 47 prefectures except Tokyo saw declines.

To maintain a stable population, countries need a fertility rate of at least 2.1. Japan’s is 1.34. The U.S. has a birth rate of 1.64. Twenty-seven percent of Japan’s 50-year old women have never had a live birth, the highest share of childlessness among developed countries. Finland is next at 20.7%.

Japan’s shrinking population is an accelerated version of the trend across the developed world. More women are seeking professional careers rather than motherhood, more men and women are delaying marriage and family decisions, and the overall cultural zeitgeist runs toward individual fulfillment rather than the sacrifices of child-rearing.

A shrinking population has consequences for economic and national vitality. In Japan it is straining the aging workforce, and burdening a shrinking number of young taxpayers with a growing cost of elderly care. Japan’s saving grace is that millions of its seniors are willing to work past retirement age. According to a 2021 Annual Report on the Aging Society from Japan’s Cabinet Office, 40% of seniors in Japan want to continue earning an income, compared to 30% in the U.S.

Japan’s leaders have tried numerous pro-natalist policies to arrest the decline. This includes more money for child care, longer maternity and paternity leave, and paying mothers a lump-sum of 500,000 yen (about $3,700) per baby. Nothing has worked. That’s a warning for American conservatives who think they can fire up a new baby boom by turning the dial on child subsidies. Cultural trends are hard to overcome.

[国際英語基本4000語掲載word]
shrink 縮小する、（量が）減る
consecutive 連続
fertility rate 出生率
fulfillment 満足感、充足感
sacrifice 犠牲にする
strain 負担をかける
arrest　　　（進行などを）止める
subsidy 補助金

[教本掲載外word]
zeitgeist 　　時代の思潮
pronatalist 出生奨励