It’s basically the same model as social security is supposed to be. It’s reciprocated societally by you putting in lots when you’re young and then you get the benefits when you’re old.
Yes, but it matters how much it intrudes on your personal life.
Paying social security (and saving for retirement) when you are young, and getting (some) coverage when you are old, is one thing. It's "only" money.
Having your time, availability, emotional capacity, mental health sucked dry by the elderly in your own family is an entirely different thing. Raising small children is an extreme challenge that requires all your resources; young and middle-aged Japanese are entirely reasonable not to start families.
> Raising small children is an extreme challenge that requires all your resources
Indeed, and in the past, this would've been offset by everyone around the parents - the old, the young, the other families and the childless aunts and uncles - all chiming in to share the burden. Social security & retiremenet is basically an attempt to give a substitute for that, for the village, but things are getting more and more pathological with each generation.
Someone close to me told me they chose to have two kids because they didn't want the burden and responsibility of caring for their parents to fall solely onto one child.
It still might, eventually. One kid will live too far away, the other will have family with small children, etc. and the burden will end up falling on the one who's closest and/or doesn't have kids of their own.
