Tama New Town -- a bedroom community in Tokyo's western suburbs -- is no longer new.
It was booming when it opened in 1971 in a hilly area cleared of its trees. The town was designed to provide apartment and other inexpensive housing for a flood of young couples while land and houses in central parts of the capital were increasingly becoming too costly.
But Tama New Town's population is now rapidly aging. Fewer kids are being born and fewer young couples have settled in the area.