The government opened the first meeting of an expert council on Friday, part of its push to draw up a comprehensive population strategy by the end of the year. The panel discussed reversing the falling birthrate and building sustainable local communities, and its findings will feed into the strategy.
Minoru Kiuchi, the minister in charge of social security reform across all generations, said after the meeting that members had called for a society where people who want to marry or have children do not face heavy burdens. "We received many important suggestions," he said. "We want to work with the related vice-ministerial meeting and speed up our deliberations further."
The council has 14 members, drawn from academics and company executives. Hiroya Masuda, a former minister of internal affairs and communications, chairs it.
The meeting follows a long series of government panels on the birthrate, and the new council's role is advisory: it debates and recommends, while the strategy itself is written by the government. The source gives no date for the next meeting.