Tag - depopulation

 
 

DEPOPULATION

EDITORIALS
Oct 29, 2017
Building a sustainable social security system
The government and political parties need to offer the public convincing explanations on how the social security system can be sustained.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Oct 26, 2017
Unclaimed land to cost Japan ¥6 trillion and extend to 90% size of Hokkaido by 2040
Economic losses due to the neglect of unclaimed land could reach u00a56 trillion in about 20 years, according to research analysis.
EDITORIALS
Oct 21, 2017
Slow regional revitalization
The demographic challenges confronting the nation are indeed enormous, but the regional revitalization policy of the Abe administration has so far accomplished little.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 18, 2017
Japan's oldest village by age sees LDP leadership as key for survival
Chikara Imai, 73, is quick to dismiss the new parties in Sunday's national election, saying old ties with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's Liberal Democratic Party is what the country's most elderly village needs for survival.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 12, 2017
As domestic market contracts, Uniqlo and 7-Eleven looks to make profits overseas
Stagnant spending and soft wage growth in Japan are forcing two of Asia's biggest retailers — Fast Retailing Co. and Seven & i Holdings Co. — to court overseas consumers to drive long-term growth.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Oct 1, 2017
Japan's demographic sweet spot
Japan will emerge as the only advanced economy that achieves the ultimate goal sought by policymakers — a new middle class.
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Sep 25, 2017
High tech, IT and robots are at forefront of Japan's funeral industry boom
From a sutra-chanting humanoid robot to automated cemeteries, technological innovation is changing how Japanese deal with funerary rituals.
EDITORIALS
Sep 22, 2017
Keeping land prices steady across Japan
Local government coffers in rural areas continue to be battered by falling land prices.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 21, 2017
Rural areas woo city slickers to vacant properties in Japanese countryside
As working-age Japanese depart the countryside in droves, leaving behind graying populations, rural authorities are trying to counter the trend by turning idle real estate into homes for city dwellers seeking a quieter lifestyle.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 20, 2017
Dying Japanese villages, towns run gas stands to keep vital supply chains going
In Shimukappu, a village in Hokkaido and home to a popular skiing resort, residents are to reopen the sole gas station, which closed four years ago as sales declined.
EDITORIALS
Sep 17, 2017
Gas stations disappearing from rural areas
Gas stations provide vital functions for their community, especially in times of crisis. More needs to be done to preserve their numbers in depopulated areas.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 14, 2017
Japan should to take lead on aging issue: British expert
As the world's most aged society, Japan can play a leading role in advising other countries facing a similar demographic challenge in the future, according to a British professor sitting on a new government panel on human resources.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / FOREIGN AGENDA
Sep 13, 2017
What will it take to convince Japanese to 'choose family'?
Without a societal model that makes family life appear important and attractive, perhaps it's no wonder that many Japanese people have stopped choosing it.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 12, 2017
Depopulated Kochi village suspends idea of direct democracy
Just three months after the village of Okawa, Kochi Prefecture, drew national attention by announcing it might abolish its elected council due to a lack of qualified candidates and introduce direct democracy, the head of the sparsely populated municipality said Monday that talks on the issue would be...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Society
Sep 10, 2017
Over 50% of municipalities holding matchmaking events, marriage seminars to help singles: survey
More than 50 percent of local governments in Japan are supporting single men and women through matchmaking and marriage seminars to help them get married, a recent Kyodo News survey showed, highlighting public efforts to curb the nation's dwindling birthrate and depopulation.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 29, 2017
Population wilted to 24, Japan's former 'island of flowers' hopes newcomers plant roots
Residents on a tiny island in the Seto Inland Sea are trying to woo new settlers to revive the community and save their hometown from being deserted.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Aug 28, 2017
Graying Japan wants automation, not immigration
A labor shortage could fuel the nation's next innovation boom.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 28, 2017
Japan's richest village having hard time luring low-pay workers to process its pricey scallops
Sarufutsu in the far north of Hokkaido is the nation's richest village, thanks to a bounty of scallops pulled from the Sea of Okhotsk.
EDITORIALS
Aug 17, 2017
Regional banks' merger dilemma
Regional banks pursuing mergers to ensure their survival should also scrutinize their operations to find areas where they can improve their performances.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Society
Aug 7, 2017
Japan's shrinking rural population poses a dilemma for democracy
Deep in the Shikoku wilderness, along a steep winding road above a dark green river, sits the tiny village of Okawa. It's located in a region sometimes dubbed by enthusiastic travel writers as the "Tibet of Japan" for its comparative isolation within the mountains.

Longform

Traditional folk rituals like Mizudome-no-mai (dance to stop the rain) provide a sense of agency to a population that feels largely powerless in the face of the climate crisis.
As climate extremes intensify, Japan embraces ancient weather rituals