Japan's Dilemma

Japan’s Dilemma Growing the Economy With a Population in Decline Jeff Uscher’s Japan Insider Understanding Japan www.japan-insider.com

Japan’s Population is Shrinking •

Japan is the oldest society in the world

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Japan’s population peaked at 128 million in 2010

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By 2020, the population will have declined by more than 3 million to 125 million—about the same as in 1995

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In 2115, the population will be about the same as it was in 1895…

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…but with seven times the number of elderly and only onequarter of the number of children

Make More of the People You Have •

Raise the retirement age to keep older workers on the job

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Provide more opportunities for women to remain in the workforce

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Change labor laws to allow for more flexible working conditions

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Use technology to reduce the amount of labor needed

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Encourage foreigners to live and work in Japan

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• •

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There are fewer Japanese demanding fewer pairs of socks and fewer bowls of rice Fortunately, China—which has lots of people to spare—is right next door Importing foreign workers has been problematic… …but importing foreign consumers has been extremely effective The benefits of the tourism boom go far beyond sightseeing and hotels

0.6%

2.5

0.5%

2.0

0.4%

1.5

0.3%

1.0

0.2%

0.5

0.1%

0.0

0.0%

03 10 17

Tourist arrivals

% of population

percent of total population

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millions of tourists

Import the People You Need

3.0

Let the Machines Do It For You •

Japan’s preferred method of dealing with its chronic labor shortage

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Japan is aggressively promoting automated driving, drone delivery services, unmanned retail stores and robots

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Caring for Japan’s growing population of elderly, infirm people is very labor intensive

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Robotics companies are racing to develop interactive robots that can take on some of the more strenuous aspects of elder care