August 2025
28Aug

Japan and South Korea Task Force To Tackle Birth Rate Crisis

Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and South Korean President Lee Jae Myung have agreed to launch a joint task force to tackle shared issues of concern, including birth rates. Why It Matters More than half of the world's countries now have total fertility rates below the replacement level of 2.1 births per woman needed to sustain a population. Longer lifespans, rising living costs and shifting social attitudes among younger generations have contributed to the decline. South Korea (0.75) and Japan (1.15) have among the...

August 28, 2025
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July 2025
07Jul

Japan’s US$1.7 trillion fund boosts ESG holdings as others flee

Japan’s US$1.7 trillion Government Pension Investment Fund (GPIF) has added to its environmental, social, and governance (ESG) investments, rejecting the shift away from green strategies by many global asset managers. GPIF held about 18.2 trillion yen (S$160.5 billion) of assets tracking ESG indexes at the end of March – or 14.7 per cent of the fund’s equity investments – up from 17.8 trillion yen a year earlier, according to documents published on Friday (Jul 4). The fund posted a quarterly...

July 7, 2025
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02Jul

What the U.S. can learn from Japan’s experience with an aging population

The U.S. population is older than ever, and that trend is accelerating. As baby boomers age and birth rates decline, the country is heading toward a demographic reality that Japan has been grappling with for decades. In Japan, more than one in 10 people is now over the age of 80, and nearly a third of the population is over 65. This marks a dramatic shift that has reshaped healthcare, the economy, city infrastructure, and cultural norms. By learning from Japan’s...

July 2, 2025
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June 2025
24Jun

Japan proposes significant increases in defined contribution pension plan contribution limits

Japan is proposing various increases to contribution limits for both employer-sponsored defined contribution (DC) pension plans and individual defined contribution pension plans (iDeCo). These proposed changes aim to enhance retirement income security for participants and enable more individuals to contribute meaningfully to their pension savings. Background The Ministry of Finance included these changes as part of its proposed tax reforms for 2025. At this stage, the changes are still pending consideration and have yet to take effect. If finalized, the changes...

June 24, 2025
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16Jun

Japan’s Population Crisis Reaches Tipping Point

In 2024, Japan recorded only 686,061 births—the lowest number since records began in 1899. This marks a 5.7% decline from the previous year and the ninth consecutive annual drop. The fertility rate also hit a record low of 1.15 children per woman, far below the 2.1 needed for population stability. The steady decline in the number of births has become a defining feature of Japan’s demographic landscape, raising deep concerns about the country’s ability to sustain its population. Each year, the...

June 16, 2025
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April 2025
15Apr

Aging Nation: The Alarming Shift in Japan’s Demographic Landscape

Japan faces a demographic shift, with a rapidly aging population and a 14-year trend of population decline. Japan’s total population stands at 123.8 million, a decrease of 550,000 from the previous year. Individuals aged 75 and over now constitute 16.8 percent of the population, while those under 15 years old make up only 11.2 percent. The population decline is contrasted by an increase in foreign residents for the third consecutive year. Migration provides a counterbalance to the declining...

April 15, 2025
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March 2025
31Mar

Japan’s $1.7 Trillion Pension Fund Offers New Backing to ESG

Japan’s $1.7 trillion Government Pension Investment Fund issued new guidelines backing sustainability-related investments as crucial to long-term returns. The fund, one of the world’s largest pensions, sees managing environmental and social issues as fundamental to its strategy, GPIF said Monday in a new policy document — rejecting the shift by other asset managers to downgrade or remove green commitments. Read more @

March 31, 2025
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27Mar

How one of Japan’s largest insurers is pivoting to serve an aging population

Sompo Holdings, a leading global insurance provider, is undergoing a significant transformation under Group CEO Mikio Okumura. The company, with operations in 28 countries, has restructured into two main segments: Sompo Property and Casualty (P&C) and Sompo Wellbeing. “The integration between Sompo Japan, Sompo International, we hope they can improve resilience. They can utilize balance sheets wisely, so they can improve risk-taking capability,” Okumura told CNBC’s Christine Tan in the latest episode of Managing Asia. Okumura hopes the restructuring will help the company to compete...

March 27, 2025
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February 2025
28Feb

AI robots may hold key to nursing Japan’s ageing population

Recently in Tokyo an AI-driven robot leaned over a man lying on his back and gently put a hand on his knee and another on a shoulder and rolled him onto his side -- a manoeuvre used to change diapers or prevent bedsores in the elderly. The 150-kg (330 lb) artificial intelligence-driven humanoid robot called AIREC is a prototype future "caregiver" for Japan's rapidly ageing population and chronic shortage of aged-care workers. "Given our highly advanced ageing society and declining births,...

February 28, 2025
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January 2025
31Jan

Household Saving in Japan: The Past, Present, and Future

By Charles Yuji Horioka This paper explores the determinants of the level of, and trends over time in, Japan’s household saving rate, with emphasis on the impact of the age structure of the population, and makes projections about future trends therein. The paper finds that Japan’s household saving rate has not always been high either absolutely or relative to other countries and that it was only during the 1961-86 period that it exceeded 15%. Past and future trends in Japan’s...

January 31, 2025
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