At the 90th GRIPS Forum on April 7, 2014, Dr. Kenji Shimazaki, Professor of GRIPS, gave a lecture titled “The Acceleration of an Aging and Shrinking Population in Japan:

Society and Policy Challenges”.

• Abstract

Japan has entered a period in which the population is both rapidly aging and shrinking. The speed at which the population is aging and shrinking will accelerate in the future. Population is the fundamental factor of society and economy, and such a large-scale transformation of the demographic structure has a tremendous effect on various sectors. At the same time, the “experiences” Japan has had and will have are expected to offer valuable suggestions to foreign countries. This lecture aims at discussing multilateral policy challenges Japan currently faces, while clarifying various aspects of unprecedented growth in an aging and shrinking population, based on data used to estimate this population.

• Speakers’ Profile:
  

After graduating from the College of Liberal Arts of the University of Tokyo, Professor Shimazaki joined the Ministry of Health and Welfare—now the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare—in 1978. After assuming the position of Associate Professor of Faculty of Law and Economics of Chiba University, he acted as manager of the Employees’ Health Insurance Division of the Health Insurance Bureau of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare. He further acted as Deputy Director-General of the National Institute of Population and Social Security Research, and Visiting Professor of the University of Tokyo Graduate Schools for Law and Politics. Professor Shimazaki has held the present position since 2007. He obtained a doctoral degree in commerce from Waseda University. His major books include: Health Care in Japan: Institutions and Policies. (University of Tokyo Press, 2011) (in Japanese) and The Path to Universal Health Converge: Experiences and Lessons from Japan for Policy Actions (JICA, 2013).