Japan's birth crisis is a structural failure, not a funding gap — decades of subsidies haven't stopped fertility from hitting record lows because the real barriers are a rigged labor market, sky-high urban housing costs and a surname law that pushes women away from marriage entirely. Throwing money at couples who already have kids does nothing for the growing share of young people who've decided marriage isn't worth it. Until Japan fixes how work, housing and gender equity actually function, the population decline will keep accelerating ahead of every projection.