“Silver democracy” is the term used to describe how Japan’s largely ageing population has resulted in policies that prioritise elderly welfare, at the expense of the younger generation, such as provisions for working mother and comprehensive childcare. Two other unique Japanese terms-“silver democracy” and “bottom up” were captured as well. When this issue was debated during a Diet session, Prime Minister Abe questioned the credibility of the post, which then sparked off a protest in front of the Diet, with people carrying banners proclaiming that the failure to enter a nursery would inevitably mean that the mother must quit her job. Soon, it went viral, with other mothers chiming in on the inadequacies of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzō Abe’s womenomics policies, which ostensibly aim to get more women in the workforce and promise more measures to support child-rearing. The story behind this phrase started in 2016 with a viral blog post entitled “My child was denied enrolment in nursery school, go to hell Japan!” was posted by a working mother whose one-year-old could not get into a nursery. The phrase “go to hell, japan!”, came from the keyword search of “democracy go to hell” in Japan.
Our dive into Asia’s search engines brought up colloquial slangs and viral keywords used in some Asia countries. But Korea takes the cake in terms of searches: Japan, Taiwan, Vietnam, Korea, Indonesia, Israel, Hong Kong, and Thailand, are all interested in “democracy meme”. The irreverence of memes, like satire, then act as a buffer against “triggered” critics. For instance, “dank memes” are used ironically to mock overused online viral media or in-jokes, and sometimes involve elements of social commentary. Not to be trivialised as just juvenile humour (though, fair), memes can act as a shorthand for one’s unfiltered opinions or mood. If the Internet is the great equaliser of information, memes are the great unifier that transcend the ethnic, language, and geographical boundaries of our time.
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