This Handbook explores the challenges demographic change poses to todaya (TM)s Japan. The first part provides the fundamental data involved, and the subsequent two parts address the social and cultural aspects of Japana (TM)s demographic change. Parts four and five are dedicated to the political, economic and social security aspects of demographic change. The Handbook brings together a group of international scholars of various disciplinary backgrounds to take issue with the worlda (TM)s fastest demographic transition. Topics include the dynamics of gender roles, images of age, policy formation, labour market structures, pension system, living arrangements, ethical values, and many more. Against the background of Japana (TM)s demographic change, the latest developments in these fields are being introduced, and whenever appropriate set into a context of historical and/or international comparison. This Handbook is the first comprehensive publication in English on Japana (TM)s demographic change. Contributors include: Makoto Atoh, Hans Dieter A-lschleger, Ryuichi Kaneko, Ralph LA1/4tzeler, Shigemi Kono, Matthias Koch, Sepp Linhart, Takeo Ogawa, Chikako Usui, Leng Leng Thang, Susan (Orpett) Long, Sawako Shirahase, Toshiko Himeoka, James Raymo, Miho Iwasawa, Akiko S Oishi, Stephen Murphy-Shigematsu, David Blake Willis, Susanne Formanek, Mayumi Sekizawa, Christopher S Thompson, John W Traphagan, Kenji Ishii, Craig Martin, Peter Backhaus, Fumio Inoue, Lisette Gebhardt, Nobuko Shiraishi, Sumiko Iwao, Roger Goodman, Takanori Shintani, Fumihiko Satofuka, Carolin Funck, John Clammer, Wolfram Manzenreiter, Leonard Schoppa, John C Campbell, Paul Talcott, David Potter, Robert Pekkanen, Yutaka Tsujinaka, Akihiro Ogawa, Susanne Kreitz-Sandberg, Liv Coleman, Glenda S Roberts, Thomas Feldhoff, Patricia Maclachlan, Naohiro Ogawa, Akihiro Kawase, Seiritsu Ogura, Volker Elis, Charles Yuji Horioka, Fumio Ohtake, Hisashi Fukawa, Naohiro Yashiro, Hendrik Meyer-Ohle, Karen A Shire, Harald Conrad, Hidehiko Sekizawa, Andreas Moerke, Ito Peng, Naoki Ikegami, Makoto Arai, Tetsuo Fukawa, Takashi Oshio, Noriyuki Takayama, and Tomoyuki Kubo.

Introduction I Fundamentals Case: The last Japanese 1 Japan's Population Growth during the Past 100 Years 2 Fertility and Mortality 3 Statistical foundations of population projections 4 Regional Demographics 5 Comparisons with Other Countries with the Emphasis on the More Developed Regions 6 History of Demography in Japan II Social Aspects of Demographic Change Case: Parental leave: Women and men 7 Social Ageing and the Sociology of Ageing 8 Changing Social Concepts of Age: Towards the Active Senior Citizen 9 Aging society and the Transformation of Work in the Post-Fordist Economy 10 Engaging the Generations: Age-Integrated Facilities 11 Social Problems of Care-Giving 12 Income Inequality in the Ageing Society 13 Changes in Family Structure Case in point: Time spent with children 14 Changing Family Life Cycle and Partnership Transition - Gender Roles and Marriage Patterns 15 Child Care in a Low Birth Society 16 Transcultural Society III Cultural Aspects of Demographic Change 17 Traditional Concepts and Images of Old Age in Japan 18 Notions of Life, Old Age and Death in Ageing Japan 19 Population Decline, Municipal Amalgamation, and the Politics of Folk Performance Preservation in Northeast Japan 20 Ancestors, Burial Rites, and Rural Depopulation in Japan 21 Religion in Post-World War II Japan and Social Ageing 22 Coming of Age The Courts and Equality Rights in Japan's Ageing Society 23 The Lexicon of Age: Linguistic Consequences of Population Ageing 24 Population Ageing and Language Change 25 Age and Ageing in Contemporary Japanese Literature 26 Media Use in the Ageing Society 27 Gendered Age Case: A pet culture in the making 28 Education in the Aged Society: The Demographic Challenge to Japanese Education 29 Ageing Japan and the Transmission of Traditional Skills and Know-How 30 Age-specific Technology: A Demographic Challenge for Design 31 Ageing Tourists, Ageing Destinations: Tourism and Demographic Change in Japan 32 Pastimes 33 Sports and Demographic Change in Japan IV Political Aspects of Demographic Change 34 Demographics and the State 35 Politics of Old-Age Policy-Making 36 Political Parties in an Ageing Society 37 Civil Society Roles in Elderly Care: A Non-profit Organization Census 38 Neighbourhood Associations and the Demographic Challenge 39 "Induced" Voluntarism: A New Role for Schools? Case in point: Age structure of volunteers 40 Educational Policy: Framework and Challenges 41 Family Policy: Framework and Challenges 42 Immigration Policy: Frameworks and Challenges 43 Infrastructural Policy: Framework and Challenges 44 Postal Privatization and Its Implications for the Ageing Society V Economic Aspects of Demographic Change Case: "Silver" customers: Japan's centenarians 1963-2005 45 Population Ageing and Economic Growth: The Role of Two Demographic Dividends in Japan 46 Macroeconomic Impact and Public Finance Perspectives of the Ageing Society 47 The Impact of the Ageing Society on Regional Economies 48 A survey of Household Saving Behaviour (in Japan) 49 The Ageing Society and Economic Inequality 50 Poverty Among the Elderly 51 Economic Factors in the Declining Birth Rate 52 Labour Market and Labour Market Policies for the Ageing Society 53 Gender Dimensions of the Ageing Workforce 54 Human Resource Management Practices and the Ageing Workforce 55 The Impact of the Ageing Society on Consumer Behaviour and Consumer Markets Case in point: A ward that takes pride in being traffic safe for the elderly 56 The Ageing Society and Reactions of the Automobile Industry - a Case Study 57 Ageing and the Social Security System (in Japan) 58 Providing Care for the Ageing Society 59 Guardianship for Adults 60 The Public Health-Care System - a Financial Perspective 61 The Public Pension System and the Ageing Society 62 The Search for More Equitable Pensions Between Generations 63 The Restructuring of the Corporate Pension System