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Japan's population is shrinking. Last year, it dropped nearly 450,000 people. Since the beginning of the archives in 1899, few babies were born (921 000). Before that, 2017 had also set a record. Meanwhile, the number of people who died last year set a record for the post-war period. The numbers are part of a larger trend in which births have declined and deaths have been steadily increasing for decades.
Another alarming figure that is growing is less noticeable. According to the latest government statistics, the number of abandoned homes in Japan reached a record 8.5 million as of October 1, 2018, up 260,000 from five years earlier. Abandoned houses account for 13.6% of the total housing stock.
Some areas have been hit harder than others. Saitama, north of Tokyo, and in the tropical region of Okinawa, had the lowest proportions of vacant dwellings. But the rate has exceeded 20% in the prefectures of Yamanashi and Wakayama.
At the same time, the Japanese Ministry of Education has been trying to reuse the vacant school buildings. One has become a building for drying meats, another one onsen (hot springs spa).
No wonder that Japan, long opposed to immigration, is preparing to open its doors wider to foreigners to face the shortage of labor. But even on this front, the numbers are limited: there are simply not enough educators to teach Japanese to newcomers.
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