Japan’s Population Implosion: The 50 Million Shock

Description

This cutting edge collection examines Japan’s population issue, exploring how declining demographic trends are affecting Japan’s social structure, specifically in the context of Greater Tokyo, life infrastructure, public finance and the economy. Considering the failures of past Japanese policies from the perspective of population, national land, and politics, it argues that the inability of past administrations to develop a long-term and comprehensive policy has exacerbated the population crisis. This text identifies key negative chain reactions that have stemmed from this policy failure, notably the effect of population decline on future economic growth and public finances and the impact of shrinking municipalities on social and community infrastructure to support quality of life. It also highlights how population decline can precipitate inter-generational conflict, and impact on the strength of the state and more widely on Japan’s international status. Japan is on the forefront of the population problem, which is expected to affect many of the world’s advanced industrial economies in the 21st century. Based on the study of policy failures, this book makes recommendations for effective population policy – covering both ‘mitigation’ measures to encourage a recovery in the depopulation process as well as ‘adaptation’ measures to maintain and improve living standards – and provides key insights into dealing with the debilitating effects of population decline. Front Matter ....Pages i-xxix Introduction (Inagawa Hidekazu)....Pages 1-25 The Greater Tokyo Shock (Seta Fumihiko, Otake Hiroshi, Umeyama Goro)....Pages 27-49 A Collapse in Regional Infrastructure (Igarashi Chikako, Akiyama Yuki, Kamiya Kenichi)....Pages 51-78 The Impact of Demographic Changes on Macroeconomic and Public Finance (Oguro Kazumasa)....Pages 79-96 Demographic Policy (Inagawa Hidekazu)....Pages 97-114 National Land (Regional/Administrative) Policy (Sunahara Yosuke, Seta Fumihiko, Umeyama Goro)....Pages 115-130 The Demographic Issue and Silver Democracy (Kato Sota)....Pages 131-153 Population Growth Policy and Public Finance (Oguro Kazumasa)....Pages 155-172 Optimum Population/Land Relocation: Area Management—Crisis Management (Sunahara Yosuke, Seta Fumihiko, Umeyama Goro)....Pages 173-195 Countering Falling Regional Population with Business (Matsuda Kiyoto, Arai Junji, Nagao Takashi)....Pages 197-215 Policy Proposals (Yoichi Funabashi)....Pages 217-227 Back Matter ....Pages 229-235