ABSTRACT
In a general sense, population ageing means that the proportion of older persons increases relative to the rest of the population. In Japan this process is so far advanced that conventional models of the age structure of society are no longer descriptively adequate, for it is not just individual parameters such as average life expectancy and median age that are affected, but the structure of society at large. As mentioned earlier, Japan is rapidly moving in the direction of a ‘hyper-aged society’. Widespread longevity on such a scale implies not just that intergenerational relations are changing, but that the very notion of a generation must be reviewed and, perhaps, redefined.
