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Modern Japan sounds like a sci-fi premise: the incredible shrinking country. Japan may have one of the longest national life expectancies, about 85 years, and the world's largest city, Tokyo. But the nation's population has been in decline for 15 years.
Last year, more than two people died for every baby born — a net loss of almost a million people. And now, the island nation is on pace to shrink in half by this century's end. The diminishing population is Japan's most urgent problem, says Taro Kono, a longtime high-ranking minister in Japan's parliament.
Kono, nearly elected prime minister in 2021, said he intends to seek the highest office again and believes the country should prioritize combating the population decline. He says this issue impacts every sector: the economy, education, housing, national defense and the culture of Japan. "There are less and less number of a young generation," Kono said.
"And all the burdens are on the young generation. And they won't be able to sustain. So society is going to be breaking up.
Economy is just going to stagnate." Last year, Japan's military recruited only half the people it needed, Kono said. There's a labor shortage in every industry, including in the government, he added.
Japan is the world's fourth largest economy, but it won't be able to sustain if the population keeps declining, Kono said. Japan's societal changes and implosion of marriage Japan's falling population is owed, in part, to a spike in the success of women in the workforce. A greater percentage of Japanese women hold jobs than their American counterparts.
Japan's famously punishing work culture, coupled with a men-first social culture, makes it extremely difficult to balance career and family. Japanese-American writer Roland Kelts says Japan also has "an implosion of marriage." He told 60 Minutes the days of omiai, arranged marriage which governed Japanese marriages up through the 1980s, are behind us.
"The corporate guys would marry the office ladies," Kelts said. "And this was all set up. It's gone now.
And the office ladies make more money than the corporate guys. So now, you have this shift in economics that has not been reflected in social norms." This shift is reflected in Japan's marriage rates: in 2023, fewer than 500,000 Japanese couples married, the lowest number since 1917, according to the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare of Japan.
Japan adapts to parties of one A growing number of businesses in Japan now cater to single customers. There are ramen restaurants meant for dining in solitude, solo karaoke clubs, and bars only open to those arriving stag. There are also solo weddings, which have all the normal trappings — bride, dress, bouquet, photographer, but no groom.
Alternative romance is also in vogue in Japan. Akihiko Kondo, 42, told 60 Minutes he married the anime character Miku in a formal ceremony in 2018. Kondo spoke with 60 Minutes about his love for Miku, and served her green tea while he spoke.
Kondo says he's one of thousands of Japanese in monogamous romantic relationships with fictional characters. Almost half of Japan's millennial singles, ages 18-34, self-report as virgins, compared to barely 20% in the U.S.
How Japan is fighting to restore its population To foster relationships, the Tokyo government has taken action. One such initiative: a dating app. "We are promoting for matchmaking by artificial intelligence," Tokyo Gov.
Yuriko Koike told 60 Minutes. And the number of applications has been three to four times greater than anticipated, according to the governor. Tokyo has also introduced a four-day workweek for government employees, designed to help working mothers and, hopefully, boost birth rates.
"The longer we work, the less children we have," Koike said. "Demography is one of the biggest national issues that we have to tackle." While many Japanese leaders agree on the importance of the issue, approaches vary.
Hanako Okada, a 44-year-old mother of two who was recently elected to Japan's parliament, said confronting the population problem doesn't require dating apps or shortened workweeks, but a sweeping mindset change. "The total fertility rate for 2024 was reported to hit an all-time low," Okada told 60 Minutes. "The continuing slide in the birth rate clearly indicates our current policy isn't working at all.
" Ninety-two percent of Japan's population lives in urban areas, a way of living that Okada sees as unsustainable for population growth. She wants people to move out of cities and back to rural towns and villages to build lives and have families. Okada led the charge, moving back to her rural hometown of Aomori, a rapidly aging northern prefecture known for its apple orchards.
Per one study, Aomori is one of hundreds of Japanese towns at risk of disappearing by 2050. "Aomori is my hometown," Okada said. "The precipitous drop in population—and vitality—of this city is deeply troubling not just personally, but from a national perspective.
If our regions collapse, it imperils our country's strength. I thought, 'We can't allow this situation to go on.'" Okada hopes to help create interesting jobs with decent pay in rural areas, so that the young people will come.
Her thinking: Once they come, and experience the space, the slower rhythms and the quality of life, they'll be motivated to start families. Okada is hopeful. "The values of our younger generation are gradually shifting," Okada said.
"Tokyo is no longer the be-all, end-all." Ichinono: The Puppet Village Many communities in Japan are fading. 60 Minutes visited Ichinono, a village located an hour and a half west of Kyoto with a population just shy of 50 people.
60 Minutes met Shinichi Murayama — a longtime Ichinono resident and the town's unofficial puppet master. Murayama oversees the making and scattering of life-like puppets around Ichinono, repopulating a depopulating community. "Puppets are no substitute for people, of course.
But making them cheers us up," Murayama said. Murayama has seen the population of Ichinono continue to decrease; he is deeply worried about the future of his village. He remembers when the town was filled with kids.
Now, instead, puppets fill the playground. This made the birth of Kuranosuke Kato, the youngest Ichinono resident and first child born in the village in more than 20 years, all the more meaningful. His parents recently exchanged city life for a spacious home in Ichinono.
Dad Toshiki does IT work from home, while mom Rie, a midwife, hopes to open a local maternity ward. "We've got a mountain and a river to explore. We make our own toys and grow our own vegetables.
For a kid, there's plenty of ways to have fun here," Toshiki Kato said in Japanese. The Katos hope others will follow, and that Kuranosuke will have friends and classmates among all the town's puppets. "I want Japanese people to become more aware of this lifestyle, which is closer to our traditional way of living, Kato said.
Birth Rate Japan L. Jon Wertheim is an accomplished journalist and 60 Minutes correspondent..
