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Mixed-race athletes at the Olympics reflect broader changes in society AS THE SON of a Japanese mother and Beninese father, Hachimura Rui stood out from his classmates in Toyama, a [...]

For the first time, a proper debate is starting about immigration THE mantra since Shinzo Abe returned to office in 2012 has been about pulling Japan out of its long [...]

Women's lowly status in the Japanese workplace has barely improved in decades, and the country suffers as a result. Shinzo Abe would like to change that KAREN KAWABATA represents the [...]

Japanese firms face a demographic catastrophe. The solution is to treat women better UNLIKE an earthquake, a demographic disaster does not strike without warning. Japan's population of 127m is predicted [...]

Consolidation beckons for Japan's retail icons ONCE, Japan's department stores were symbols of modernity. In 1673 Mitsukoshi, the oldest, introduced the then-radical innovation of fixed prices. At the turn of […]

But ageing employees need not be a problem, if companies adjust JAPAN'S population is in decline. As of last October 1st, the government announced last week, giving the results of [...]

Japan's population will soon start getting smaller as well as older OZAKI SHOJI, one of Japan's biggest makers of school uniforms, has a problem. Its core product is in increasingly [...]

BULLY for America's kids, those gifted heirs to the boomers' crown. But what about everyone else? The simple answer is that, as with so many other things, what is happening [...]

Rich countries have much older populations than poorer ones; and they are getting older still. Japan will be the greyest of all by 2010, when almost 22% of the population [...]

The number of Japanese children aged 14 and under has dropped to 15.5% of the population, from 35% in 1955. By 2010 Japan could have proportionately the smallest workforce and [...]

JAPAN'S young women, like their sisters in other rich countries before them, are now marrying later, putting off having their first child longer and then choosing to have fewer children [...]

The silvering of Japan TOKYO NOBODY grows any younger. Not people; nor the big industrial countries, which all face a rapid aging of their populations. This silvery-grey cloud has a [...]