“While many nations have aging populations, Japan’s demographic crisis is truly dire, with forecasts showing that 40 percent of the population will be 65 and over by 2055. Some of the consequences have been long foreseen, like deflation: as more Japanese retire and live off their savings, they spend less, further depressing Japan’s anemic levels of domestic consumption. But a less anticipated outcome has been the appearance of generational inequalities.” In Japan, Young Face Generational Roadblocks Japan Blocks the Young, Stifling the Economy - The New York Times
It might be true that one aspect of generational inequalities in Japan may be the result of aging population. Some old people have both more power and more money than the other old people. It is a well known fact that more conspicuous inequalities exist among old people than among young people.
For immigration to have much effect on the age profile of a country it would have to be truly massive, so massive that the country would not longer recognize itself.
"the country would not longer recognize itself. "
Do you feel like there is some thread of similarity between the heart of Japan of the late 60s and today?
I lived in Japan in 1971. It is very much the same country today, same culture, same history, same people, but it has changed, as it changed from 1931, and as othe countries continually change.
I guess that Japan will undergo a sea change in one way or another, just as it did pre to post war. Having a fraction of the population actually working productively for 20 years will do that as surely as greatly increased immigration.
“As this fading economic superpower rapidly grays, it desperately needs to increase productivity and unleash the entrepreneurial energies of its shrinking number of younger people. But Japan seems to be doing just the opposite.” In Japan, Young Face Generational Roadblocks Japan Blocks the Young, Stifling the Economy - The New York Times
Some people think that productivity can be increased and entrepreneurial energies can be unleashed under fierce competition or unstable fixed-term employment. Most of the “powerless” old people, who have been paying their children’s educational costs, are not responsible for the introduction of the “inhumane” and “unjust” system to the young people.