Many pundits agree that the most important challenge Japan faces is how to deal with the problem of falling birthrates and an aging population. Among direct, specific proposals for solving the problem are measures to increase birthrates and reform the pension and medical-care systems.
However, government programs alone are not enough to tackle this challenge. All of society must adapt to the situation. In this respect, changing Japanese ideas about the human life cycle is essential.
Japan's present social system seems based on ideas established from the 1960s to the early 1970s. In those days, Japan's life expectancy was about 70 years, and its birthrate had decreased to about 2.0 children per woman, which would have kept the national population more or less fixed.