Aging Population in Japan

This is a podcast about the aging population in Japan. I will focus on factors of what's causing the elderly population to rise, for example a shift in gender roles, as well as what the government is trying to do about it. Included are interviews with exchange students from Japan attending Guilford College in the Spring of 2019. 

Click show detail for a full episode transcript

Jacquelyn: So, think about the world and what it’s gonna look like in 2050. Some might think about how geographically different it’ll be. What we should be thinking about is what the populations gonna look like. Some might think that the world will be overpopulated by the year 2050. As the popular trend right now in Japan, that’s not the case. 

Jacquelyn: The population in Japan is shifting from younger generations to aging populations. Someone might consider this to be a good thing for the world, but there are potential consequences that Japan could be facing. 

Jacquelyn: So let’s talk about what’s causing the declining birth rate in Japan. There are many social reasons that this is happening… First, there is a stronger presence of virtual dating (Rani, 2013). There’s actually a Nintendo game called LovePlus. Players basically simulate being in a relationship through their game boys. Men in Japan replace a real relationship and often treat this virtual one as if it’s real (Rani, 2013). 

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Jacquelyn: Second, the role of women is shifting in Japan. Parents that are getting older are relying more on their daughters to take care of them as opposed to a son (Boling, 2008). This doesn’t leave a woman much time to be married, raise children and work to provide family income (Boling, 2008). The bond between a daughter and her aging mother is thought of as, more special (Boling, 2008). Japanese women don’t necessarily see the role of marriage relating to happiness, whereas Japanese men do (Boling, 2008). Women are embracing a sense of self and their own independence now (Boling, 2008). 

Jacquelyn: Not surprisingly, compared to being married young and having a family, Japanese women enjoy living at home with their parents while working and they basically having more freedom. (Boling, 2008). 

Jacquelyn: I caught up with Kina, who is a Japanese exchange student from Tokyo. I asked her about traditional gender roles in Japan.

Kina: As a society, people have certain stereotypes of gender roles. So, and traditionally in Japan the society has been patriarchal. So, a lot of men say that women should stay in home and do some stuff, like um cooking and cleaning and laundry. And, and women should um give birth to childs and raise them up. So, yeah that’s the traditional gender role for women and men are supposed to do work and earn money. Um, more women are working now but still it’s difficult for women to work and at the same time keep like, house, yeah so but I think it’s changing. 

Jacquelyn: I also asked Jun, who is another exchange student from Japan, about his opinions of gender roles in Japan and how his friends might view the future, his response reflects what Kina was saying about traditional gender roles in Japan. 

Jun: Men should work and a women should, you know, take care of children, their children and like cooking the food or yeah something like that. Women tend to want to like want to have a like family in the future and so like men want to like seek the career instead of like family. 

Jacquelyn: It’s surprising, but some people out there don’t see the aging population in Japan as a problem (Davis, 2018). One professional working in Gerontology is Sarah Harper. So she basically studies the elderly (Davis, 2018). As an expert in the field, she claims that there shouldn’t be any concerns with the aging population in Japan (Davis, 2018). She says that countries with ageing populations don’t need the younger populations to sustain themselves (Davis, 2018). 

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Jacquelyn: What’s the government doing about the increase in the elderly population? Could they be helping the world by taking in refugees and immigrants to join the workforce? Historically, Japan has had really strict policies regarding it’s borders. Could opening the borders help the issue of the aging population? One big issue of the increase in elderly and aging populations is how they will be taken care of and still receive pensions from the government (BBC, 2013). They expect it right, after working their whole lives. 

Jacquelyn: I asked Kina about the shifting age of the population and how it could be sustained. 

Kina: Because younger generation are like decreasing in terms of number, like population. Um, we have to support like elderly people by paying a lot of taxes. And so, If you get a job and when for example when you retire at the age of 60 or 65 you can get money from the government in Japan. And for example my grandma is getting money from the government but I don’t know if we can get money from the government when we get older.

Jacquelyn: When I asked Jun about the aging population he also responded in a similar way and that told me that most Japanese are aware and had in depth knowledge of the subject. 

Jun: Compared to like young people the number of like you know senior people are growing up so the problem is like the young people uh is, uh, how do you say like, responsible to pay you know the tax instead of like senior people can. So, I mean, so, this is a serious problem in Japan.

Jacquelyn: An obvious problem with the aging population is those who are of age to still work and help the economy. For Japan to open up its borders does show that the government does believe there is a problem and their trying to fix it (McCurry, 2018). Therefore, there should be some kind of policy that incentivizes people to immigrate to Japan. An obvious solution to this problem would be turning to the rest of the world for help. There is a staggering statistic that the number of people working in Japan will fall from about 55 million to around 8 million by the year 2030 (McCurry, 2015). Interestingly enough, Japan does fund aid for countries in need, but still has a strict immigration policy (McCurry, 2015). One benefit of this new policy by the Japanese government is bringing over people with skills from other countries (McCurry, 2018). They will gain even more skills while in Japan but in return they’ll go back home with these skills and help their own countries’ economies (McCurry, 2018). One criticism of this policy has been that those who have valuable skills will be able to bring their families, while those with less skills will not bring their families and will have to go back home after 5 years (McCurry, 2018). Japan will also have to provide sustainable housing, health care and basic needs for these immigrant workers. 

Jacquelyn: I asked Kina if she noticed people working in Japan from other countries.

Kina: I see many um, Asian people working in convenient stores in Tokyo. Sometimes, all, um, most of employees are for example Pilipino or maybe Malaysian people. And, yeah, a lot of Asian people are coming I think. But I don’t know if their working environment is good, if the e-employers give them enough money and treat them nicely. So, yeah I am not sure and I don’t think their environment, working environment is good. So yeah but the number of foreigners working in Japan is increasing.

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Jacquelyn: If you asked anyone on the street in the United States about this issue I would guess they don’t know about it. We should be concerned with global health issues around the world. Due to global overpopulation many people wouldn’t consider the declining birth rate in Japan as a problem but in reality the research shows that is a problem. Thanks for listening.

Jacquelyn: This podcast was produced by Jacquelyn Fulk for the Spring 2019 Global Health course at Guilford College.