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Japan: The Super-Ageing Society

Edwin Lane reports on Japan, where a rapidly ageing population is prompting fears of a demographic crisis.

Edwin Lane reports on Japan, where a rapidly ageing population is prompting fears of a demographic crisis. In the last few years there's been a rise in crime among older people. He speaks to one pensioner who turned to crime in her later years, and to researcher Michael Newman who explains how economic pressures are pushing some older Japanese people to extremes. And with Japanese people living longer than anyone else, should older people be expected to work for longer too? We hear from older Japanese people who've chosen to keep working into their 90s, and from Professor Seijiro Takeshita from the University of Shizuoka, who says the government needs to do more to boost the birth rate.

(Photo: 97-year-old Shizue Ohata at work in Tokyo, Credit: 91热爆)

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18 minutes

Last on

Fri 7 Jul 2017 07:32GMT

Broadcast

  • Fri 7 Jul 2017 07:32GMT

Podcast