Japan: Infertile ground
Prosperity can't compensate for population loss
by Russell Board
http://www.worldmag.com/subscriber/d...e.cfm?id=11472
Saitama City, Japan — Japan is shrinking. Government figures released in December 2005 indicate that
the population of Japan decreased: A report compiled by the Health and Welfare Ministry estimates
1.067 million births in 2005, as compared to 1.077 million deaths. Excluding the war-ravaged year of
1945, this is the nation's first recorded net population loss since records began to be kept in 1899.
Experts predicted in 2002 that the nation's population would peak in 2007. Now, according to The
National Institute of Population and Social Security Research, the decline has arrived earlier than
expected.
One factor in the accelerated decline is the high number of deaths among elderly who succumbed to
an influenza epidemic in early 2005. But all agree that the most significant factor has been the rapid
fall of the birthrate. The average number of babies born to a Japanese woman during her reproductive
years dropped to a record low of 1.289 in 2004, continuing a downward trend that started in the early
1980s.
Government and business leaders responded to the figures with gloomy remarks about the dire social
and economic consequences of a declining population, which stands at 128 million. "The declining
birthrate is becoming more conspicuous," Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi told reporters. "I feel we
need to take measures to stop this trend."
Opposition leaders were quick to point fingers at Mr. Koizumi, blaming the prime minister's economic
reforms. "With the fall in income of the child-rearing generations, it became impossible to stop the
declining birthrate," Democratic Party of Japan leader Seiji Maehara said.
The fact is, since 1989 the government has implemented a series of plans to combat population decline,
but to no avail. Most measures have aimed at making it easier for working women to bear and rear
children, with billions of dollars spent on improving nursery schools and child-care facilities.
Parents also receive subsidies of 300,000 yen ($2,500) per pregnancy to defray the costs of childbirth.
Afterward, a monthly allowance ($44-$90 per child) is provided until children reach school age, and most
medical expenses not covered by insurance are reimbursed during this period as well. Yet in spite of these
incentives, couples persist in shunning the burdens of parenthood.
Indeed, marriage continues to be delayed. The average age for first marriages reached new highs in 2004,
rising to 29.6 for men and 27.8 for women. Young women especially are in no hurry to take wedding vows,
and choose older, more financially stable partners when they do decide to tie the knot.
Some women are more interested in the pursuit of a career than marriage, but most are simply reluctant to
trade a comfortable lifestyle for the hardships of family life. These so-called "parasite singles" often continue
to live at home well past age 30. While mom takes care of the laundry and housekeeping, they enjoy the
benefit of free room and board and maintain a high disposable income to spend on leisure travel and designer
goods.
Many observers are alarmed at the rapid rise in the number of "freeters" (job-hopping part-time workers) and
"neets" (those not in education, employment or training). Unable or unwilling to join the corporate world of
Japan, Inc., these young people have opted for a less structured and demanding lifestyle, at the cost of
remaining dependent upon their parents and their parents' generation's postwar prosperity.
Masahiro Yamada of Tokyo Gakugei University, author of the book A Society Lacking in Hope, attributed the
falling birthrate to a general lack of hope about the future. Polls show a gloomy outlook afflicting all age groups
in Japan, despite growing prosperity.
It is deeply ironic that the society with the longest life expectancy in the history of the world lacks the
courage and desire to give life to the next generation. Awash in material goods, Japan is sorely lacking in basic
spiritual necessities: hope for the future, appreciation for the gift of life, and an understanding of its meaning
and purpose.
Copyright © 2006 WORLD Magazine
January 28, 2006, Vol. 21, No. 4