ABSTRACT
No issue is more disturbing to those who think about Japan’s future than the aging of Japan’s population. The burden of paying for the Baby Boomers’ retirement as the number of tax-paying citizens declines will strain the nation’s finances; demand for health and nursing care will rise. But where will the workers come from to fill that demand if the number of young people is shrinking? Who will care for the elderly when interest in nursing’s daily grind is low? What, too, of other industries that depend on energetic youth to staff their offices, factories, and shops?
