Japan has seen ballooning costs for elderly care with not enough young people to fill jobs and pay for various social and welfare programs. How would you recommend the government deal with this issue?

Try to deal with inflation, that balooning cost just one of side effect of inflation.

Deflation more a problem for any economy and I believe around 3% pa inflation is a goal of the Japanese Government.

As for aged care funding, there would be so much "fat " the Government could trim {Olympics, Epo } it is a matter of redirecting existing tax incomes to more needy causes...like aged care.

Finally, the growth of part time employment and "Mac jobs " hurts everyone, not just the hapless employee, in all sectors of the economy.

I believe the shift away from lifetime and full time employment was in part from pressure from overseas nation trading partners during various negotiations seeking changes to Japan's economic advantages during the bubble period

You see the result already in the header next to this header on the home page. 10 years ago this sort of thing was rare but it multiply times a day now. Certain parts of society are not dealing with it well. I actually think it out of hand and Government really need to looking into instead of just acting like it,s the norm.

That's an easy to answer question. It just needs more younger people preferably by more childbirths and the government can do nothing about that, the population has to do that.

Japan has seen ballooning costs for elderly care with not enough young people to fill jobs and pay for various social and welfare programs. How would you recommend the government deal with this issue?

immigration. no other way.

Its an easy fix, spend less on US weapons, vanity projects like the Olympics and most importantly stop wasting so much money on bridges, roads, rail lines and airports that are not needed. The idea that by spending huge amounts in Tohoku will save it from becoming a depopulated wasteland is a fantasy.... Just stop it.

The money is there to look after the old. It's just being spent or rather wasted on other things.

Japan has seen ballooning costs for elderly care with not enough young people to fill jobs and pay for various social and welfare programs

Dealing with cranky seniors for long hours for a non-living wage? With a choice of food or paying the pension requirements at the end of the month.

What a conundrum for Japan created by the neo-liberal "reforms" of Abenomics' race to the bottom.

The market can only do it by raising wages. The government could transfer some of the obscene rice farmer subsidies, but that ain’t gonna happen.

What Mr. Kipling says

Yes, this is called the elder apocalypse. The only solution is greater immigration. If so much time hadn't been wasted it could have been possible to raise birthrates, but even that probably wouldn't have filled the gap.

How would you recommend the government deal with this issue?

This is the wrong question. It assumes the government brings the solution to problems, when it's usually the government that creates the problems to begin with. Japan has some of the highest taxes in the world yet can't take care of the elderly? And people still think the government is here to help?

More children won't solve the problem. That just pushes it down the road, as populations cannot increase forever. More immigration is the same thing - who will take care of the immigrants when they get old?

The time has come for Japan (and most other developed countries) to make some hard choices and get their priorities straight. The country can't keep expecting the government (a non-productive body by definition) to be their caretakers, and people have to start looking long and hard at where taxes go and whether they need all the government they have now.

Just ignore it and hope something comes up.

What happened to all of the money that the now old people have contributed to the pensions system over the years? Surely if that money had been invested properly, then it should all still be there to pay their pensions?

I guess the government has just squandered it all by pouring concrete everywhere....

So, what to do about it?

Well, some countries have decided to go the mass immigration route - obviously that brings with it problems of its own and as others mentioned, just seems to be kicking the can down the road. There is also an ethical argument against that - wealthy countries hoovering up all of the best talent and working age people from poorer countries is disastrous for the economic development of those countries. Japan, being a rather insular and conservative country seems rather averse to the mass immigration route anyway, so while I expect some opening up over the coming years, I don't think they will open the floodgates like we have seen in the UK and others for example.

One of the main drivers of population decline in advanced economies is the flow of people from the countryside into urban centres - I think that is especially true in Japan. The government should look at initiatives to get companies to locate their premises and a significant number of their staff away from the main urban areas of Tokyo, Nagoya and Osaka, into smaller regional towns and cities. Japan has excellent delivery services, very good internet connectivity - many companies don't need to be located in Tokyo in this day and age!

I also think that the retirement age will have to be increased up to 70. People are living much longer and healthier lives these days and many jobs are not physically demanding. Perhaps a staged retirement system could be introduced? A lower age of retirement for those in physically demanding jobs. For office, managerial etc. maybe reduced reduced working hours between 60 and 70 with corresponding salary decrease before retirement at 70?

I would suggest that old people with decent personalities form coops to live together and support each other until they need outside support. This crisis is just getting started.

Hand the reins to people who are actually skilled in the field /andor create a cabinet minister position if there is not one already.

An AI system custom-designed to analyze massive amounts of real-time data related to government spending, assets, time and resources. A hive-like center for intelligence with one simple goal, machine-like precision, and data-driven efficiency. Massive amounts of waste reduction and a new era of transparency and accountability. A centralized AI-enhanced meritocracy that utilizes smart immigration to fill the demographic gaps. Japan already has the infrastructure that is the end of the world so the heavy lifting is already done. Unlike another big player in the region, Japan makes a clear and conscious choice to use real (non-fudged) data. Real vs fake, see who wins!

Am sure there are some very smart people on the case. Massive layoffs in the public sector would be the hardest pill to swallow, that and whether or not someone from within the system actually steps up to get the ball rolling. It is clearly an option though, just have to make the decision to go for it.

What to do with all those fax machines? Ask AI that too!

japan already has the infrastructure that is the ENVY of the world that was supposed to read. Gomen. Need my own AI minder!

We need old people over 65, if possible, to be working and paying taxes. But I heard that if an old person over 65 continues working, part or all of their pension, which they have contributed to all their working lives, is taken away. Not exactly motivating old people to work is it?

You don’t lose your pension or part of it if you are working.

In Italy you must retire at 65.

You don’t lose your pension or part of it if you are working.

Ah, I read that that was the case. Wallace, you are a pensioner sir? I stand corrected then.

Yes I am a Japanese pensioner.

In Italy when you work as an employee you receive 14 months salary. When you retire at 65 you receive 14 months pension.

The only way to fill the demand is to offer a attractive wage!!

We need more slogans and committees set up to discuss how to best throw money at the problem. We need more elites in expensive suits who have no idea about normal society to make decisions about things they don’t know nor care about. And slogans.

If lots more money is thrown at campaigns to make babies, then everything should be ok, surely. Come on people, we can’t get these balls rolling until we get a catchy slogan, onat includes the word ‘woman’ in it.

Failing that, immigration is the only solution. Deep societal divisions between women and dinosaurs can’t be addressed in the next several generations.

This is like having someone crash their car while driving without a seat belt nor air bag and becoming quadriplegic as a result. Asking what can be done to deal with this situation. Of course there are things that will bring some limited benefit right now, but the time for doing something actually effective is already in the past. Lots of wasted opportunities to prevent problems.

You don't have to be old to form co-ops. We did it in London for food, work, housing, restaurants.

It would be good for older Japanese living alone could find a way to share a house with three or four others. There would be so many benefits.

That's an easy to answer question. It just needs more younger people preferably by more childbirths and the government can do nothing about that, the population has to do that.

Not really, a child conceived today wouldn't be an adult until say 2045, which is kind of too late.