Land of the rising aged
Jun. 2nd, 2008 by Al 
Living in Asia I came to look upon Japan as an economic model for the rest of the region here, indeed the japanese have outdone the rest of us in GDP per capita, high tech development , lower crime rate compared to most industrialised countries worldwide.
The export oriented success for Japan became the recipe for south korea and now China to follow.Consumer living became the norm for the japanese after her post war ascent to an economic power.However it changed the traditional family unit to a more individualistic western outlook in life as more educated japanese women joined the workforce delaying marriage and child bearing.
What’s startling about Japan is that the society is rapidly greying without the fertilty rate to replace the retiring workforce.There seems to be a lack of institutions in Japan compared to the west in allowing married women to work and the space for raising children.And many younger women is choosing not to married in pursuit of lifestyles unlike the ways of their mothers and grandmothers.
Demographics is destiny and with the land of the rising aged in Japan coinciding with the high cude oil of this century, the maintainence of japanese position as an economic powerhouse will posed many challenges like foreign immigration and a move towards a more sustainable economy.
But a rich country like Japan will have the luxury of time to ease the transition towards an older lower populated society but whether it will compromise her prominence in the world stage remains to be seen.
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