Latest news with #PhilipFong
Newsweek
5 days ago
- Business
- Newsweek
Japan's Birth Rate Crisis Worsens
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. Births in Japan fell to a record low last year, according to newly released government data, as the country faces a deepening demographic crisis. Newsweek has contacted the Japanese Foreign Ministry for comment by email. Why It Matters Japan's steadily declining births and overall aging population present serious long-term risks, threatening to sap the world's fifth-largest economy of vitality and strain its social welfare system. Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba has labeled the trend a "quiet emergency" and made reversing it a central pillar of his agenda. What To Know The number of babies born to Japanese citizens in 2024 fell to 686,061, a 5.7 percent drop from the previous year, according to statistics the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare released on Wednesday. It marked the first time since 1899, when record-keeping began, that annual births fell below 700,000. A mother and child at the "crying baby sumo" match at Sensoji temple in Tokyo on April 28, 2024. A mother and child at the "crying baby sumo" match at Sensoji temple in Tokyo on April 28, 2024. Philip Fong/AFP via Getty Images For the 18th consecutive year, deaths outpaced births, resulting in a net population loss of 919,237, the ministry said. Japan's fertility rate also declined, falling to 1.15 expected births per woman—down from 1.2 in 2023. A rate of 2.1 is widely considered the replacement threshold for a stable population without large-scale immigration. Japan is not alone. China and Taiwan face similar demographic declines, while South Korea—which has the distinction of having the world's lowest fertility rate—joined Japan last year as a "super-aged society," meaning people 65 and older make up 20 percent of the population. What People Have Said Kei Nishiuchi, the CEO of SoujouData Inc., a data science consultancy in Tokyo, told the Fuji News Network: "As the number of elderly increases and the working-age population shrinks, we're starting to see an impact on the economy's overall productivity. Even the very assumptions behind how our society redistributes resources—such as who pays taxes and who provides eldercare—are being called into question. "This is not a crisis that's still on the horizon—it's one that has already begun. I think we need to recognize that." Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said in a parliamentary speech in October: "The low birth rate and the resulting population decline are a challenge to the very foundations of the country—a quiet emergency, so to speak." What Happens Next Health officials have warned that Japan has only until the 2030s to reverse course. However, measures such as childcare subsidies and fertility treatment coverage have had little effect. Some analysts have suggested that Japan's outlook may be less dire than feared, citing its heavy investment in automation technologies—such as industrial robots—to offset its shrinking workforce.
RNZ News
20-05-2025
- Politics
- RNZ News
Japan's Fukushima nuclear wastewater 'pose major environmental, human rights risks'
Storage tanks for contaminated water at the Tokyo Electric Power Company's (TEPCO) Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, in Okuma of Fukushima prefecture in 20 January 2023. Photo: Philip Fong / AFP The United Nations (UN) human rights experts have written to the Japanese government to express their concerns about the release of more than one million metric tonnes of treated nuclear wastewater into the Pacific Ocean. In August 2023, Japan began discharging wastewaster from about 1000 storage tanks of contaminated water collected after the earthquake and tsunami in 2011 that caused the meltdown of its Fukushima nuclear plant. In the formal communication, available publicly , UN Human Rights Council special rappoteurs addressed the the management of Advanced Liquid Processing System (ALPS)-treated wastewater from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station (NPS) by the Japan government and TEPCO (Tokio Electric Power), and the ongoing discharge of such waters into the Pacific Ocean. They said "we are alarmed that the implementation of contaminated water release operations of into the ocean may pose major environmental and human rights risks, exposing people, especially children, to threats of further contamination in Japan and beyond." "We wish to raise our concern about the allegations of the failure to assess the consequences on health of the release of wastewater against the best available scientific evidence," the special rappoteurs write. "Against this backdrop, we would like to highlight that the threats to the enjoyment of the right to adequate food do not concern only local people within the borders of Japan. "Given the migratory nature of fish, their contamination represents a risk also for people living beyond the Japanese borders, including Indigenous Peoples across the Pacific Ocean which, according to their culture and traditions, mainly rely on seafood as their primary livelihood." The letter follows a complaint submitted by Ocean Vision Legal in August 2023 on behalf of the Pacific Network on Globalisation (PANG) and endorsed by over 50 civil society groups in the Pacific and beyond. In a statement on Tuesday, PANG hailed it as "a landmark move for ocean justice and human rights". The organisation said that the destructive legacy of nuclear contamination through nuclear testing is still strongly felt across the region. It said this legacy is marked by severe health impacts across generations and the ongoing failure to properly clean up test sites, which continue to contaminate the islands and waterways that Pacific peoples depend on. "As Pacific groups, we remain disappointed in the Japanese Government and TEPCO's shameless disregard of the calls by numerous Pacific leaders and civil society groups to hold off on any further release," PANG's coordinator Joey Tau said. "Their ignorance constitutes a brazen threat to Pacific peoples' livelihoods, safety, health and well-being, and the sovereignty of Pacific nations," he added. Joey Tau Photo: RNZ Pacific / Lydia Lewis Japan has consistently maintained that the release is safe. The UN human rights experts have asked for further information from Japan, including on the allegations raised, and on how the Radiological Environmental Impact Assessment has been conducted according to the best available scientific evidence. This communication sends a clear message: Ocean issues must be understood as human rights issues, requiring precautionary and informed action aligned with international environmental law to safeguard both people and the marine environment. Ocean Vision Legal founder and CEO Anna von Rebay said while the communication is not legally binding, it is a crucial milestone. "It informs the interpretation of human rights and environmental law in response to contemporary threats, contributing to the development of customary international law and strengthens accountability for any actor harming the Ocean," she said. "Ultimately, it paves the way towards a future where the Ocean's health is fully recognised as fundamental to human dignity, justice, and intergenerational equity."
