Demographic statistics released by the health and welfare ministry continue to paint a bleak future for Japan, whose population is forecast to decline steadily in coming decades unless measures are taken to reverse the birthrate decline. The number of babies born in 2011 was the lowest on record since 1947.
Cold data, though, could overshadow the human suffering that often goes unheeded as attention focuses on the nation's broader demographic trend. These are the issues that Cynthia Ruble, an American resident of Nagoya, is addressing through her volunteer activities.
Ruble confesses that she was not born a good Samaritan. "Before coming to Japan, I worked in advertising in Atlanta for 10 years. I was a manic career woman, went to graduate business school at night and worked my way up to vice president at the second-largest advertising agency in Atlanta in five years."