Japan's population crisis reaches tipping point | FT Film

Japan has been struggling to cope with a combination of anaemic economic growth and a shrinking population for over 30 years. 2025 marks the tipping point when the rising costs outstrip the country's capacity to pay for them. The FT's Tokyo bureau chief Leo Lewis looks at how the country has managed its slow burning demographic crisis and what the rest of the world can learn from its experience #japan #japandemographics #japaneseeconomy #tokyo #japanpopulation #asia #elderly #immigration #birthrate #demographics #japaneconomy #fertilityrate 00:00 - Introduction 01:06 - Japan's population alarm 01:54 - Understanding the 2025 problem 02:38 - Comparing international fertility rates 03:37 - Fuwaku, the rugby club for the over 70s 05:36 - Seijin-no Hi, Japan's coming of age festival 06:17 - The link between birth rates and marriage 07:25 - Okunitama shrine and the cost of getting married 08:24 - The link between fertility and wages 10:14 - The Tokyo government's dating app 11:03 - Kiricafe and the growing number of immigrants in Japan 14:01 - Rising government spending on the elderly 15:07 - Unicharm: from baby nappies to adult diapers 16:01 - Ito En: making tea for the elderly 16:41 - House Boat Club: changing funeral traditions 17:53 - China's similar demographic path to Japan 19:10 - Is Japan's experience what success looks like? ► Enjoying FT content? Get a daily slice of the very best FT journalism with FT Edit. Free for 30 days then just £4.99 a month See if you get the FT for free as a student (http://ft.com/schoolsarefree) or start a £1 trial: https://subs.ft.com/spa3_trial?segmentId=3d4ba81b-96bb-cef0-9ece-29efd6ef2132. ► Check out our Community tab for more stories: https://www.youtube.com/@FinancialTimes/community ► Listen to our podcasts: https://www.ft.com/podcasts ► Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/financialtimes ► Follow us on Instagram: https://www.tiktok.com/@financialtimes