Japan's Problem

Abstract
I made a decision to write a research paper on the topic of population of Japan. Japan’s decreased birth rate is a very serious problem. This paper considers the reasons for those problems and what government should do to solve the problems. First, government should give advantages to women. Second, government should support rural areas. Last, government should help baby boomers. The first one is that we should realize the importance of Japan's problem.

The population of Japan is shrinking and graying. Japan is known as a country which has an improved economy. With improved economy, many Japanese women want to get a job, and they don't want to quit their job, so they choose not to have children. Therefore Japan's birth rate has decreased. There are so many old people in Japan. After Japan had the World War II, Japan's birth rate has increased rapidly from 1947-1949. People who were born between 1947~1949 are called baby boomers. The baby boomers, become old at around 60 years old (BNN News 2006 p. 1). They have worked hard since they started to study. Those people will retire. Japan is a densely populated country. Most Japanese people live in the cities because they want to get a good a job in good environment, so in the country, there are no workers. Many companies struggle to employ qualified workers. In order to increase the birth rate, develop the countryside, and take care of retiring baby boomers, the government should give advantages to Japanese women, countryside, and baby boomer. However, the government is not thing to do for them.

I am interested in the population of Japan because this country is very close and similar to Korea, which is my country. I know that even though the country island, Japan is known as a country which has an improved economy. Because of its improving economy, Japan's health care system developed. Japan government is concerned about human health care; "Medical care for an aging population is absorbing more than 40 percent of the Japanese government health budget" (Bloomberg News, 2007 p. 1). Therefore, Japan's population became graying. In "Japan stares into a Demographic" author Masaki Hisane said Japan's birth rate is the lowest in the industrialized world; also, their declining birth rate and graying population can affect their economy. Their population is now 127.7 million, but it will shrink to half of them in 70 years, and in 100 years it will be a third (2006). Japan's birth rate is 1.3 in 2007. This number is almost as low as Italy, which has the lowest birth rate. Japan also has had a period of baby boom; "Japan's first generation of baby boomers were born between 1947 and 1949" (BNN News, 2006, p. 1). There are some problems. First, Japan's population is decreasing. Second, the population of Japan is 127 million, but old people are almost 27 million of them (BBC News, 2007 para 1). Last, most people live in a big city. "Businesses have been relying on this pool of labor in the countryside moving year on year to the cities" (Kyodo News service, 2007). I have read the some articles that give Japan's problems and what should they do.

Government should give advantages to women have children. Japan’s birth rate is low. Japanese families normally have 1~2 babies. Many Japanese women have a job. Most of them don't want to have babies because they don't want to leave from their job after they get marriage too. If they have a job, they can't take care of their babies, because they have no time; the women have to do not only their work for the job but also do their household work. That problem can be reduced by their husband, but Japanese men are not willing to help their wives do household work, so the women are not willing to have many babies. Second, more and more Japanese people live alone. 49 million people in Japan live alone. Although American divorce rate is high, Americans want to marry and want to have babies; but Japan is different. A number of Japanese people prefer to live alone. Third, a reason of the declining birth rate is that late marrying is a trend. Japanese average age of marriage is 29.6 in 2004. Many women work, so marriage can be problem in promoting their states in the company. Many people marry too late to have many babies. Also, there is an economic reason. The single women are given many advantages from their work. Single women are more easily hired by companies in Japan, and after they are hired in the company, there are more opportunities to be promoted to executive for singles. Also, in Japan, there are many cafes, restaurants, and facilities for single, like restaurants and facilities which can accept only singles. Many environments encourage women to live alone. Therefore government should give advantage to woman to increase birth rate. For example, if government gives more vacation to women who have children or makes women finish earlier than men, they can get time to take care of children.

Government should support rural cities. Most people want to work in a good environment and at a high salary, but most companies in the country are hardly operating because there are not enough people to work in the company and fewer customers. People can't make a lot of money in those companies. Also they do not have good environments to live and study for children. In the rural area, the facility is not good and school education is worse than in the urban area, so many youths move to the big city to get a good job and go to a good school. Some people get the good job which they want, but many people can't get a job which they want because there is a limit of the number on companies in the city. Some of them who can't get a job might decide to emigrate to get a job. Therefore, Japan's population will decrease. Also, those situations happen to companies in the country. A company can't employ qualified workers. "Japanese businesses might start seeking more labor overseas" (Kyodo News Service, 2007 p.2). The companies try to emigrate to other countries because there is no labor in the countryside. Because of jab problem, small towns are becoming graying. Every young people has moved to urban areas, so there are only old people. "Capital attracts young people into the cities and uses them as cheap labor" (Kyodo News Service, 2007, p.2). "The young benefit somewhat. But that relationship between the cities and countryside has broken down because there are no more young people." Now government should support the countryside. The government should set many facilities for inhabitants and help many potential companies. If there are many competitive companies, many people will move to the cities which are in the countryside.

Government should project a plan for baby boomers. In "Watches anxiously as baby boomers march into retirement," the author said, "Japan has a common retirement age of 60, and this year marks the official onset of the baby boom generation's arrival at that age. Some 2.2 million Japanese will reach 60 this year" (Doi, 2007 p.1). So many people will retire from their companies. This retiring should be the time for them to rest. They worked hard. Since they entered elementary school, they have studied hard to enter the high quality high school and university, because Japanese universities require the grades which are from elementary school to high school. After they graduate from university, they might get a job. The unemployment rate is growing in Japan, so Japanese work hard for getting a job and keeping their seat. When they reach retirement, finally, they can get an easy life. However they worry about retiring. They don't know what they should do. The baby boomers worked hard for their family and their country. Most of them are thinking of their company as their big family, and some of them did not join with their friends or communities. Therefore, after they retire from their company, they do not join and can not connect with their community (Doi, 2007 p.2). Government should give baby boomers opportunities, because they worked hard for Japan's economy. If they had not worked so hard, there may not be a current Japan that has developed economy and technology. They should be given security in their company. For enjoying their retired life, government can settle many communicate for people who retire or make a steady pension system for them. And then they need more vacation. By giving them many vacations, they can make time to meet friends or join social communities before they retire.

Someone may say that government doesn't have to struggle to raise the birth rate because there are so many people in the urban area. "Population density is very high in the coastal plains. With a population density of 13,000 persons per sq km, Tokyo is one of the most crowded urban cities of the world" (Hisane Masaki, 2006, p.1 ). Almost 70% of total population lives in urban areas. It is not helpful to Japan's environment. Because there are so many people in a town, government worries about pollution. There are so many people. Those people are eating a lot of food in order to live; that brings a lot of garbage, which should be throwaway somewhere, but that garbage is too much to bear. Another problem is there are so many automobiles that pollute the air with exhaust fumes; also many companies and factories pollute the environment with exhaust fumes and trash. However, Japan's environment actually is not really bad. Even though many people have cars, most of them usually use bicycles. Especially, a lot of those people are only in the urban area. Therefore, the government should plan to raise the birth rate.

In conclusion, Japan's population is shrinking. With decreasing birth rate, Japan has some problems, from women, baby boomers and rural areas. I considered those problems and what Japanese people need in those problems. Actually, government should make some plan for the job problem. Because a number of people, baby boomers will retire soon, companies will struggle to employ workers, so the government will start to accept foreigners. However, this plan can bring another problem, such as the increase of crime. Therefore Japan's government should work out fundamental problems. Japan's government should think about what happen to baby boomers, rural areas, and women. If the government considers them, those problems will be gone, also birth rate will rise.