How can Japan mitigate the challenges of population ageing to maintain their standard of living?
In recent years, Japan has been garnering attention for its ageing population. In an ageing population, the working population decreases, bringing about negative effect to the country's GDP growth (Oliver, 2012). It also causes economic concerns such as an increase in government expenditure such as pensions, healthcare and the lack of people in the labour market (Herrmann, 2012). This essay aims to explore the implications of an ageing population: savings rate, depletion of labour in the market; and how Japan aims to solve these issues with the use of immigration policies, providing pensions and other policies.
Savings rate would be affected as a result of the ageing population. The savings rate of Japan is
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Over the past fifty years Japan has seen significant changes in all aspects of its society and the way it interacts with the outside world. For example, despite suffering a defeat in World War II, Japan soon became one of Asia’s greatest economic powers. In Japan in Transformation, 1952 - 2000, Jeffrey Kingston focuses on various aspects of change in Japanese society and politics in the period after World War II. These include the effect of the US occupation, analysis of postwar politics, the economic boom, changes in demographics, the treatment of women, and foreign policy and security issues. Throughout the book, the author tries and often succeeds to explain many of these changes as part of the legacy of the occupation. All in all, Jeffrey Kingston gives a thorough economic, politic and social analysis of this crucial period in Japanese history.
Takamura, J.C. (1999). Getting ready for the 21st Century: The aging of America and the older
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..., manga, anime, virtual lives, socializing, vacationing, etc. It’s not that the Japanese people have resolved to avoid sexual contact, but it is the case that many young people are finding gratification elsewhere. Declining birth rates are likely due to the fact that people have more choices now – even in Japan – than they did before the 1970s when this decline first started. Japanese women see the choices open to people in more liberal countries like the US, and are making those choices too. Also, the availability of a broad range of birth control methods that made it simple and easy to defer pregnancy kind of coincides with the start of this decline. I think the decline is more a reflection of the choices a modern society provides, and the consequences of those choices in decisions to focus on career first and family later. We see this in most developed nations.
An aging population is indeed a problem for the society and will possibly cause many social and economic difficulties in the future. According to David Foot (2003), professor of Economics at University of Toronto, an effective birth rate of 2.2% against current 1.75% will be necessary to replace the current work force in the near future and the government’s policy of bringing in more immigrants will eventually fail (Foot, 2003, 2). However some people predict that the increased size of an aging population will drive growth in the home, health care, and many other industries resulting in job creation and economic growth (Marketwire, 2013, 1). Majority of the people are of the opinion that the issue will be mainly in the health care and economic activity. As humans age, they start to develop health problems, leading to more visits to a medical clinic putting extra burden on health care system.
...ty for one that better suited its capitalistic tendency. That opportunity came in1868 when the Meiji imperial rule was able to overthrow the Tokugawa regime, setting off a political, economic, social and cultural change that transformed Japan. As Japan embraced modernity with full force, some began to realize the negative impact of modernization on the rural life, social structure and most importantly on its culture, blaming it on the western influence on its modernization. Thus as Japan neared World War II, it embraced a new sense of modernization, one that was separate from westernization, creating a nationalistic and fascist government policy. Japanese society is characteristic of plurality and opposing value systems coexisting. As new ideals and institutions arise, Japan sees itself transforming and changing at the hands of internal and external forces.
Japan's 2008 total population was 127.69 million though its younger population has decreased as the older population has increased. Japans older population is living longer than earlier generations (Wakamatsu-cho, 2008). Diet has a great deal to do with Health and traditionally Japanese meals were higher in carbohydrates due to lower economic status and rarely used beef or pork. With economic growth came changes to the traditional Japanese diet adding more fats and proteins, causing a recent decline in Japanese health and increase in obesity (Saigusa, 2006).
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Long-term care insurance is also required for those older than 40. As Dr. John W. Traphagan notes in The Diplomat, Japan controls costs by setting flat rates for everything from medications to procedures, thus eliminating competition among insurance providers. While most of the country 's hospitals are privately owned and operated, the government implements smart regulations to ensure that the system remains universal and egalitarian.”
In conclusion, I tried to explain what experienced in Japan during the first years of rapid economic growth in terms of its social consequences. According to my argument, I tried to show imbalances which occurred with economic development in post- war Japan. In other words, economic development cannot appear as linear social development. Post- war Japan has witnessed positive and negative social consequences after implementing economic recovery. Therefore, we can say that society cannot always embrace economic development positively. Economic transformation brings its own waves and thus society fluctuates regarding its embracement. Japanese society received its share with this economic recovery during post- war period.
According to Global Road Warrior, Japan's population as of July 2013 is at 127,253,075 people, with an over-whelming majority of the public being elderly. "The Report says that two out of five Japanese will be over the age of sixty five by 2060" (PressTvGlobalNews). This sort of issue has yet to happen in all of history, so what is the cause of this crisis? It is becoming wildly believed that the media, influence and life style changes are having a great impact on this population decline.
Stockwin, J. A. Chapter 7: Who Runs Japan? In Governing Japan: Divided Politics in a Resurgent Economy (4th ed., pp. 46-72). London, The United Kingdom: Blackwell.
Hunter, Janet. “Gender, economics and industrialization: approaches to the economic history of Japanese women, 1868-1945.” In Japanese women, emerging from subservience, 1868-1945, edited by Tomida Hiroko and Daniels Gordon. Folkestone: Global Oriental, 2005, 119-144.
...is part is the most prominent part of my paper and I will try to demonstrate how post-war economic development affects Japanese society with some examples in some cases. In order to have an idea about social impacts, I tried to explain and analyze economic development process after WW2 in Japan in the second part. Afterwards I will deal with its social consequences in this part. As I tried to mention in the introduction, social transformation is not linear. It has ups and downs or positive and negative impacts over society. If Japan has economically been developed Japanese society has not benefitted from development right rate. While some Japans have been living in prosperity, the others were suffering on the other way. Especially in 1960s, people were enjoyed with this economic development, but upcoming years the system created its own victims in Japanese society.
O'Bryan, Scott. 2009. Growth Idea : Purpose and Prosperity in Postwar Japan. University of Hawaii Press, 2009. eBook Collection (EBSCOhost), EBSCOhost (accessed December 4, 2011).