Is Japan A Dying Country?

silence greets visitors to Nagar Oh a small mountainous village in western Japan not a living soul can be seen walking along the deserted streets only creepy live sized dolls are seen dotting the landscape dolls outnumber humans ten to one 270 dolls to be exact compared to only 27 residents the dolls are the creations of one of Nagato's few remaining residents 69 year old tsukimi a yawn oh she started to create the dolls to help cure her loneliness and sense of despair each time she returns home most residents of this tiny village have left a long time ago in search of employment or have died oh you miss an insanity in mannequin are attacked Oh toka you kini Tom attacked about felicity so you mean you want to look very famous here at this village you can't even hear children's laughter that's because there are no more children the last school closed down in 2012 the youngest person living is 55 years old you know what guys you got Qaeda Gong can now walk identical I take the Nanako arrow Tokyo motto in general no more what about dig in the recommend a comparable revoir ma oral mrs. Donovan you know what he did or ot MA - Ramona is Runa adore Delano the problem facing the people of this village is also being replicated in many parts of the country mention Japan and the image of a cool a vibrant and energetic country comes to mine cities like Tokyo that don't sleep 24 million tourists a year urban that land states as psychedelic high speed a bullet trains but once you step out into rural Japan that's when the crisis of a population declined hits you squarely the latest data from Japan's internal affairs ministry reveals that the Japanese population has fallen for ten years in a row to paint a stark picture in 2017 Japan had 900,000 babies born but that year 1.3 million people died which means that Japan's population was negative 400,000 in other words there were more dead people than babies born can a country literally die out here at O direction called America the currents Amos called a cautionary tale weirdo kamikaze here 35 year old Akihito Kondo works as a school administrator the soft-spoken bachelor ticked all the right boxes of an ideal husband he's well educated holds a steady job and has his own apartment in 2018 he married Hatsune Miku Miku is not an ordinary girl she's a pop star hologram a character that exists in the virtual world Akihito's reason for not marrying a real woman is that he was very unpopular in school back then and was often bullied by the girls hurt and frustrated he lost all interest in girls that's when he met Miku in the virtual world he fell in love with her and decided to marry her instead I mean are you saying tested Karami Atticus McDonald a dare what I think you also know what conceal - kini Anamika national dog am Italia Cemetery - you know they squatted on this you know machine - Tara has anime good - you know what skin and you say they update whether she's critical it doesn't going on this at the heaters experience as unusual as it appears is indicative of a growing problem facing Japan today last year the number of marriages fell to a post-war low of 580 thousand down by some twenty thousand five hundred from the previous year even Japanese experts believe there's nothing the government can do to encourage more singles to get married and have children new roads reform measures have been put into place to try and boost the country's birth rates including offering free early childhood education yet birth rates continue to slide and that has put a drag on the nation's growth which has stalled since the early 1990s one way to resolve the issue is to open the doors to foreign workers as part of the solution the abbé government has been proposing a more friendly immigration policy which is allowing immigrant workers to stay in Japan for a bit longer than they used to be in April 20 19 that program accepted some 40,000 workers and overseas in 14 fields which are facing acute labor shortages including nursing care foodservice IT agriculture and construction experts however believe that it may not be enough to mitigate the phenomenon of a dwindling workforce in the country my semana de mai kakou it means opening one day but I didn't who was just a very nice - got a home submitted see I know some money on the road Oh calculate or a party so no choice you can know though the amount of our dado sums it was a little different you know a guy goes you know in essence the kick was thought they must say when you want to take what is known in here then I do this traditionally Japan has always been known as an insula and a culturally homogeneous country until today it has not fully embraced the idea of a large-scale immigration but when push comes to shove the country has no choice but to force through a change in the country's traditional values in a traditionally male-dominated society Prime Minister Shinzo Abe a made history in 2013 when he announced his strategy of Womenomics to enable more women in the labor force now estimates show that if Japan can close the gender gap in the labor force GDP can increase by 15% so can women save the Japanese economy [Music] even as the Japanese government continues to grapple with its labor crisis and aging population in rural towns like nan Goro it may be too late to turn back the clock fuckin'-a and I just start talking right in it a microRNA tsunami got nickimja coast again give him oh I stand you die - oh no no your sake no koto naku rocoto kanga ain't oh my maternal school a car okay yeah people congregate No [Music] you

Channel: CNA Insider

Views: 309,701

Rating: 4.7374449 out of 5

Keywords: CNA Insider, Channel NewsAsia, People stories, Asian perspectives, Japan, Ageing population, ageing, marriage

Id: CmkVyByBuOA

Length: 7min 55sec (475 seconds)

Published: Fri Aug 16 2019