The Challenge of Japan’s Century
Any close observer of Japan could be forgiven for believing that what ails the country is that its body politic is missing the panic gene. What else could explain Japan’s failure for years to deal convincingly with an impending demographic disaster, and its decades-long economic stagnation?
Japan’s Population Implosion, edited by Yoichi Funabashi, a distinguished commentator, former editor-in-chief of the Asahi Shimbun and now chairman of the Rebuild Japan Initiative Foundation, assembles a remarkable array of experts to dig deeply into the causes, consequences and possible solutions to one of the starkest threats Japan faces: its rapidly aging population, low birth rate, and the attendant hollowing out of the countryside and the slow demise of its cities. At current trends, Japan’s population of 127 million is expected to decline to 50 million by the end of this century. What’s worse, 40 percent of that reduced population will consist of the elderly.
As Inagawa Hidekazu says in the introduction to this fascinating volume, Japan’s demographic crisis “stands as the country’s greatest challenge since the start of the Meiji Restoration in 1868.” First published in Japanese in 2015, the volume is now in English translation and is essential reading for anyone interested in the future of Japan. Global Asia.
Japan’s population of 127 million is expected to decline to 50 million by the century’s end.