Japan’s projected population decline conjures up an image of a ball rolling down a steep slope. According to estimates by the National Institute of Population and Social Security Research, the nation’s population will shrink to two-thirds of the current level in the next half-century, and then to one-third 100 years from now.

Three panels of experts have issued reports on how to put the brakes on the decline.

All the reports concur that there are obstacles preventing people who want to marry and have children from doing so, and that these obstacles must be removed.

The reports also offer similar solutions, which boil down to expanding support for parents and changing the ways of working.

The Japan Policy Council, a private research foundation that issued one of the three reports, caught the public’s attention by pointing out the possibility of about half of the nation’s current rural municipalities ceasing to exist if they keep losing their populations to the big cities. But aside from the JPC’s dire warning, the three reports offer no new practical solutions.

This was only to be expected, as what needs to be done is already fairly clear. But the point is whether society and the political community will be receptive […]