Image Source: Asahi

The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare announced yesterday that the fertility rate in Japan increased by 0.02 in 2010, to 1.39 children per woman. The slight increase was said to be at least in part due to women have babies later into their 30s. While the fertility rate increased for women [...]

According to government estimates, the population of Japan fell by approximately 75,000 in 2009, based on births and deaths registered in Japan between January and October. During 2009, there was a decrease in births, down 22,000 to 1,069,000 and an increase in deaths, up 2,000 to 1,144,000 compared with 2008. These both continued trends [...]

The other day I mentioned in passing that Japan’s aging society is going to be an increasingly important issue for the Japanese health system. Today I’d like to look at this a little more positively. Today the government released details of 40,399 people aged over 100 in Japan this month, which is more than 4,000 more than [...]

Blaine Harden had an article in the Washington Post yesterday, which focuses on health care in Japan. It is an attempt to be balanced, but I feel that it relies a little too much on anecdotes, and misses some very significant points. The story finishes with a perplexed, ordinary Japanese woman [...]