Kawari: How Japan’s Economic and Cultural Transformation Will Alter the Balance of Power Among Nations
Milton Ezrati
Chief Investment Officer for Nomura Asset Management
In coming years, Japan’s transformation will accelerate as her economy and social institutions begin to cope with an especially powerful agent of change: the rapid aging of her population.
By early in the 21st Century, one Japanese in four will be older than 65 years. Such a huge retired population is unprecedented in history. It will force change most by creating a huge labor shortage. Japan has had such a low birthrate for so long that she lacks the young people to step into the shoes of the newly retired.
By the second decade of the new century, for every dependent retiree, Japan will have fewer than two people working.
