Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi faces a problem her predecessors could not solve: how to halt Japan's population decline and still grow the economy. Her government plans to set out a vision in a population strategy to be compiled by the end of the year, and it will start by asking the public to understand the reality.
An expert panel held its first meeting on Friday, with former internal affairs minister Hiroya Masuda as chair. Masuda has led analysis on municipalities at risk of disappearing — local areas whose populations are projected to fall far enough that they may no longer function as communities — and is a leading figure in the field.
The panel plans to present estimates of future population trends and projections of how severe labor shortages are likely to become. It is also expected to discuss how many foreign workers Japan would need.
Simulations before policy
The strategy will center on showing multiple simulations to make Japan's situation visible. From that data the government will set out a broad vision for responding to population decline. Specific policies will be debated separately, after the strategy is published.
A Cabinet Secretariat official in charge of the strategy said both measures to raise the birth rate and responses to a shrinking population are needed. The official said the government will draw on experts across a wide range of fields and feed their views back into the debate.
The strategy does not yet say what immigration policy would accompany the vision. The panel's discussion of the foreign workers Japan would need is the point at which that question enters the plan.