Growing Opportunities in a Shrinking Japan

Many people see demographics in Japan as a problem, but there are many opportunities as well. As a career diplomat from 1976-2006, Mr. C. Lawrence Greenwood Jr. will briefly go over the demographic trends and then look at how Japan could use these to its advantage. For instance, there are obvious areas, such as biomedicine and robotics, where Japans aging will be a competitive advantage. Also, Japan will have a head start on the world (including China whose demographic trends are not far behind Japans) in how to cope, from a policy perspective, with aging and shrinking of the labor force. Mr. Greenwood will also talk about some of the tough policy reforms that Japan needs to take in order to achieve a positive outcome, including dealing with he national debt, reforming labor markets (including a greater place for women in the work force) and better corporate governance.