population issues in Japan
Japan now has a population of 126 million, which is the 11th over the world. On the other hand, the land area of Japan is only 364 thousand. Among the10 most crowded city over the world, there are two of them from Japan. Overpopulation in cities is the most serious issue in Japan. Tokyo has been at the first place for at least 10 years.
impact of the issue
economic issue
Japan is a free market economy. Its total GDP exceeded that of the Federal Republic of Germany in 1968. It ranked second in the world from 1968 to 2009 (after the United States). In 2010, it was overtaken by China, and its total GDP retreated to the world. 3, at that time, the per capita GDP was 38,459 US dollars. In general, the overpopulation in Japan doesn’t reduce the GDP in Japan. On the other hand, it actually improve the GDP in Japan. There are so many people crowded in big cities like Tokyo. That causes many jobs in Japan but not much labor force. In this case, many old people still work even if they want to retire. The pressure in life among Japanese is also huge.
social issue
As I said before, the pressure of Japanese is huge. The Suicide rate is also very high in Japan. The number of suicides in Japan exceeded 30,000 in the year of 1998, and it has remained relatively high in comparison with other developed countries in the following period. According to the statistics , the suicide rate ranks 9th in the world, and is really too high compared with 41 in the United States and 95 in the United Kingdom. The working condition in Japan is not as good as other developed countries. To my surpries, the averange working time is 15th all over the world which is quite good, but the truth is not as shown in the working time. Almost every worker in Japan have to work overtime. The word Karoshi shows how bad the working condition is in Japan.
political issue
Japan’s political system is the constitutional monarchy. The emperor is retained as a national symbol. The political system in Japan isn’t related much to population issue in Japan.
technological issue
There is not much connection between technological issue in Japan and population issue in Japan.
environmental issue
Though the environment in Japan is pretty good for most of people’s mind, the truth is not want we think. After the second World War, Japanese population grows quickly. The increasing population forces the use of resources to increase, which has led to environmental damage. With enough labor force, Japanese economy increasing quickly. Because of the lack of envirnoment, Industrial waste gas and waste emissions have increased, and environmental pressures and burdens have begun to increase. The increasing of economic pushes more and more people leave rural to the big cities. As the infrastructure in the city is not yet complete, coupled with the concentration of production activities in the city, Japanese cities are beginning to face industrial pollution and domestic waste.
evaluation to the issue
I think the biggest population issue in Japan is Population urbanization. The living condition of citizens gets worse because too much poopualtion in the city.Large amount of domestic garbage makes the environment in cities worse. Traffic is also not good in a crowded city. Besides, the employment pressure is a huge issue in Japanese big cities. It is hard to get a stayable job and it is even harder to keep a job. The working time per day is about 8 hours which is not very long. But the thing is most of the job position requaires overworking. It is not compursory, but you might lose a stayable job because of not overworking. In general the main issue is that people’s living pressure is huge.
reference
https://qz.com/1295721/the-japanese-population-is-shrinking-faster-than-every-other-big-country/
Calvin Zhao 