“Japanification” is a term that refers to the years of low growth in Japan that were used to justify extraordinary interventions of monetary policy, which had no real effect on economic growth. But I can’t help but think of it in terms of demographics, too, where underinvestment in posterity is leading to a society that is consuming itself and may begin to see economic contraction following population contraction.

Once again, in 2023, Japan marked a record-low number of births. Just 758,631 Japanese were born last year. That is compared with 1,574,865 deaths. There is no relief in sight. Japan is one of the few modern societies where there’s still a very strong correlation between births and marriages. But marriage is collapsing too, as the Japan Times reports: “The number of marriages fell by some 30,000 from the previous year to a new postwar low of 489,281.”