Gray Japan

Japan is a famous industrialized country in this world. Japan has modern industry and advanced high technology. As we know, Japanese are very smart and polite. Japan seems to be a strong country, but now it is changing. Japan faces a big problem with its population. Their population is shrinking and aging now. According to Evans-Pritchard (2007), “The population peaked at 128m in 2005 and is expected to fall below 100m by the middle of the century…” (para. 2). The population of Japan is decreasing but slowly. Also according to Kashiwagi (2007), “…by 2023, people over 65 will make up 30 percent of the population; by 2055 they will be more than 40 percent” (para. 3). We can see the aging of population in Japan is really happening. This will bring an economic problem, because Japan will lose masses of labor forces and spend more money on taking care of old people. It will bring a heavy financial stress such as cost of pension system and welfare system. This will cause this country’s economy to become weak. Not will only Japan face this problem, but also most developed countries will face it too. So this is a global problem, not only Japan’s problem. Why is Japan’s population aging and decreasing? Because the industrial revolution brought a modern life and it also changed the people’s thinking and behavior. So people who don’t want get married and have babies have become more common in industrial countries. Japan’s government and all Japanese should face these serious problems; they should think about how to increase birth rate. Immigration can bring an amount of people to increase their population and labor forces and solve some cultural problems. Some cultural problems will relate to low birth rate and immigration policy.

After World War II, there was a group called baby-boomers who were born from 1947 through 1949. Now they are all getting old, and this has caused the age structure to change. According to Doi (2007), “Japan has a common retirement age of 60, and this year marks the official onset of the baby boom generation’s arrival at the age. Some 2.2 million Japanese will reach 60 this year” (para. 3). A lot of people getting older makes Japan get older. And advanced medical technology makes people able to live longer. According to Kashiwagi (2007), “Right now the average life span for a Japanese woman is 85.5 years, and, according to a recent WTO study, by 2030 that figure will rise to 88.5” (para. 3). This is why Japan has a lot of old people now.

First, Japan should find the way to increase their birth rate. Birth rate is decreasing now in Japan. This will affect the age structure to negative growth. Most people have stopped producing babies, because they think it costs too much and they don’t have time to take care of babies. This is a common phenomenon in developed or industrial countries. When the country becomes industrialized, everything is evolved, including people’s knowledge and thinking. Most people think bearing a baby requires spending too much money and they don’t want to face it, especially women. They think without baby they can still live very well and comfortably. In “Japan Economic Newswire” the author states “Japan’s total fertility rate fell to its lowest ever level of 1.25 in 2005, a phenomenon attributed mainly to an increase in the number of people marrying later or forgoing marriage altogether and the rising number of working women” (2007, para. 16). Women in developed countries have more chance to get education and jobs. They have more their own ideas than in the past. They have jobs and they can feed themselves. They do not need to depend on men. That’s why they get married late or even not get married. Because of this reason, the chance of producing babies is less. Japan’s government should think of some policy to encourage people to get married and produce more babies, such as baby’s welfare and parent’s welfare. The key point is reducing people’s stress from bearing babies. Newborn babies also mean new labor force in the future. That means they will be helpful to their country’s economy. They will bring more tax income and balance the cost of spending on old people. So government should revise more good policy to people, and people should operate in coordination. That is not just a government problem, the results of population aging and decreasing will affect everyone living in this country. Solving this problem will bring everyone a positive environment for living.

In addition, the immigration is one way that can solve the decreasing of population. According to Coleman (2007), “Immigration in Japan does not have a happy history. The first wave in modern times came a century or more ago from conquered lands in Korea and China, sometimes in chains as slaves…” (para. 34). Because of this history reason, Japan’s government doesn’t like immigration very much. And as we know, Japan has a strict immigration policy. That’s why the registered foreigners in Japan are only 1.57 percent of their population, which is 2 million (Coleman, 2007). That’s not enough. Open immigration can bring more labor force; also it can help birth rate increase. These foreign labor force can bring some benefits of their economy because they can join in Japan’s industrial development. They can bring more tax income to balance the cost of spending on old people. Japan allows people with skill such as engineers and doctors immigrate to their country. But it seems still too strict, because only a few people can reach this qualification. Most foreigners want to immigrate to Japan, but they can’t because of this limit. The limit causes them to be unable to solve the population problem by immigration way. So Japan still needs a revised better policy for immigration. For example, the U.S.A. uses immigration to balance their population; they also have a lot of baby boomers, but they do well at controlling population structure by immigration policy. I do not mean that Japan needs to do the same thing as U.S.A., but Japan needs to find its way. It needs to open more chances to let people move to Japan from other countries and help Japan increase their economy and population. This is hard work and Japan’s government needs to think about it in a serious way.

Finally, Japan needs some cultural change. In Japan’s traditional culture, women should take care of babies and do household chores. But in developed countries, women have jobs and they don’t have time to do this work at the same time. According to Evans-Pritchard (2007), “The ancient regime makes it very hard to have both a career and a family, so women are putting off marriage. They are no longer willing to accept a double shift where they come home from work and have to do all the household chores” (para. 12). If women refuse to get married, that means few babies are produced, then population will decrease. Japan’s men should think more about feminism. Baring a baby or doing household chores is not only women’s responsibility. It should be shared together. If Japan’s men can change this old traditional thinking, women might want to get married. Also some old thinking will influence immigration. According to Coleman (2007), “For Japan’s government to increase those numbers would be groundbreaking in a nation conditioned to see itself as racially homogenous and culturally unique and to equate “foreign” with crime and social disorder” (para. 10). This impression makes Japan’s immigration policy become stricter. I think all Japanese need solve these problems together while changing their old thinking.

Some people who live in Japan think the population decreasing and aging is not a big problem. It will happen in the future and doesn’t hurt them now. That’s really selfish thinking, because population’s problem is relative to every resident. Population will influence economy and economy will influence this country. If this country becomes worse, what will happen? The answer is that every resident will be influenced by the worse economy. People’s life will become worse. Is that what you want to have? I don’t think so; everybody wants to have a good environment to live in. So if the population problem will affect this country, why do we just let it happen? We should stop it. Correcting this problem is everyone’s responsibility. Have a good country, then you also will have a good life.

In conclusion, a country’s population structure is very important. Japan’s population is a good example for us to study, because we live in a developed country. How to solve this problem is really a valuable thing to think about. Facing the population decreasing and aging or negative growth. We need to think about ways to increase people, and encourage people to produce babies. Immigration is another good way to increase population and labor forces. Some old thinking should be rethought, because it is not suitable in this generation. So controlling the population to grow in a good way is an important subject for every country.

Bibliography

Coleman, J. (2007, Jan 21). Cultures collide in changing Japan; Aging population forces the nation to sift challenges of immigration. The House Chronicle. Retrieved July 7, 2007, from LexisNexis.

Doi, E. (2007, Mar 30). Japan watches anxiously as baby boomers march into retirement. McClatchy-Tribune News Srevice. Retrieved July 7, 2007, from LexisNexis.

Evans-Prichard, A. (2007, June 1). Japan leads world in demographic decline: Birth rates have plunged, affecting every aspect of the economy. Daily Telegraph, London. Retrieved July 7, 2007, from LexisNexis.

Japan Economic Newswire. (2007, May 29). No title. Retrieved July 7, 2007, from LexisNexis.

Kashiwagi, A. (2007, Feb 19). Gray Matters: In Japan, where one fifth of the population is now over 65, a preview of a global future. Newsweek. Retrieved July 15, 2007, from http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17227771/site/newsweek/page/0/


EAP2 Section C – WW
Research Paper
01/08/2007
Henry