Japan is most advanced in aging, declining birthrate

Friday 17th April, 10:37 AM JST

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PEKOiSM at 11:44 AM JST - 17th April

It took me a while to notice when I first moved here, but I very rarely see pregnant women in Japan. I only finally realised when I noticed that one of the mothers at Kindergarten was pregnant. I'm sure that I saw pregnant women all the time in Australia. (My work friends tell me that Japanese women don't show obvious signs until the last month of two, AND they are also trying to tell me that gestation is 10 months here!...)
tokyokawasaki at 12:24 PM JST - 17th April

Yeah, what the hell is this 10 months gestation period all about? My wife and I had this debate, but she refused to accept 9 months... She ended the debate by saying in a typical Jarrogant (or Jignorant) manner "Well, Japanese must be different to foreigners"...

I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry :)
sf2k at 01:24 PM JST - 17th April

Japanese inability to accept that the term Japanese is both that of a country and a race rather than only one thing, makes it very old-style and why it cannot even if it wanted to open up to foreigners who could become Japanese citizens. Such an idea is impossible given the mindset, born or imported.

In varying degrees this works out elsewhere, where your race is not your nationality since the two have long since been disassociated. Until Japan can accept Japanese of Korean heritage, or Japanese of Chinese heritage and all the other places and histories of all the world, how does Japan continue to exist in 100 years?
gaijin70 at 01:42 PM JST - 17th April

Here in Japan the fact that a gestation is of 10 months is purely cultural. Until recently even a child was 1 year old the time he was born, that's why sometimes it becomes difficult to know the exact age (in western standards) of old people. The same happens in pregnancy, it is count as one month the moment the egg is fertilized. It's better to ask the weeks of pregnancy, to clear any doubt.
BigInJapan at 04:38 PM JST - 17th April

"but we don't want gaijin caregivers because they are so difficult" Congratulation, Japan.

By the way, wasn't the word "advanced" somehow misused? English is not my mother tongue, but I have the impression that "advanced" generally refer to positive results of hard effort.

Offtopic note: 10 months 10 day gestation is coming from old lunar calendars. The Japanese being very flexible and precise as always haven't realized in the last 100+ years that lunar calendar has shorter months than the Gregorian one, so still everyone think that birth comes 10 month and 10 day after impregnation, and making stupid jokes about the relationship of Valentine day and Christmas day.
sharky1 at 05:10 PM JST - 17th April

Outlaw abortion in Japan!
LostinNagoya at 07:31 PM JST - 17th April

There´s no other way other than opening the gates to foreigners.

Abortion is part Japanese culture, like rice. (an ugly part, btw). You see more single people than married ones, blame this on the difficult (and expensive) rituals of flirting, dating, and marrying.
WilliB at 07:40 PM JST - 17th April

A smaller population would be good for Japan; what is problematic is the period of a decreasing population, where the tax base keeps shrinking.

Alas, politicians will call (as usual) for the easy way out and try to increase population with immigration.

I only hope Japan does not follow the suicidal policy of Europe, trying to replace its declining native population with a massive flood of immigrants from muslim countries who, instead of integrating, start to convert Europe into the miserable hellholes they ran away from. That would be so tragic.
sf2k at 11:33 PM JST - 17th April

Much of the immigration issues are one of geography. So Germany and Turkey being neighbours have a strong immigration.

For Japan the issue will be immigration from the most populous countries of China and India since they are so close. Will Japan accept them to become Japanese in the future?

To be or not to be, that is the question...
LostinNagoya at 12:00 AM JST - 18th April

WilliB: what Japan needs to have a growing and active population is to open its gates to foreigners. Nice, working people, does not matter their color, faith, language. This is what makes US still the enviable power it is. What Japanese doesn´t need is dumb people like you giving this kind of prejudiced, racist advice. They have prejudice and racism on their own. A lot of it. You, as a foreigner in Japan should try to help the situation here.
aelieth at 12:22 AM JST - 18th April

This is your weekly reminder telling you "Oh noes, Nihon r doomed." Falling land prices, reducing over-population, it's not all a bad thing. Still, people need to have families and kids. So many single moms in Japan these days. That's what most women are looking forward to if they don't have an abortion.

Fixing the family / social problems will fix the declining birthrate problem. Fixing that though? That's not easy and there never is an easy solution until a major shift in society occurs again. That's ok, I'll be doing my part in about a year. :-P
boboh at 12:47 AM JST - 18th April

Well, duh, good work J-researchers....
mushroomcloud at 02:33 AM JST - 18th April

There will be a need for more nursing homes and healthcare workers as Japan continues it's slide into a welfare society.
kwatt at 06:55 PM JST - 18th April

Japan's population is about 125 million. I think this is too many for such little islands. Japan needs declining bithrate. UK is about 58 million and Germany is about 85 million. Proper population of Japan is maybe 60 million.
bcbrownboy at 11:38 PM JST - 18th April

"Proper population of Japan is maybe 60 million." This may be true if the age were spread, but if 1/2 of them are 70 years old - not so good.