Japan has one of the highest proportion of older adults in the world, and by 2050, almost 38 percent of its population will be 65 and older.

The average life expectancy of Japanese people continues to increase, reaching 87.57 years for women and 81.47 years for men. This is nearly 12 years older than the world average.

On the other hand, the downsides are devastating: an increasingly older workforce as 70% of Japan's farmers are over 65 years old and due to labor shortages and aging, about 1,000 dairy farmers close their businesses every year in Japan, widespread dementia as one out of every five people aged 65 or older has dementia, hamlets devoid of young people. The population peaked at 128 million in 2010 and declined by about 2 million over the next decade. Depopulation is rapidly progressing, especially in rural and mountainous areas, and while older residents are dying, younger people are migrating to urban areas. According to the Ministry of Internal Communications and Affairs, 164 hamlets disappeared between 2015 and 2019. It is estimated that about 500 hamlets will disappear in the next 10 years and the possibility that the disappearance of villages will accelerate in the future.

In response, Japan is introducing a variety of approaches and technologies to adapt to a rapidly aging population. The different strategies are developed and implemented by communities, neighborhoods, hamlets, and others, according to their specific needs, and enable Japanese to lead their lives in harmony with their values. Also Japan is ushering in innovations to help the country cope, from community programs that ease social and physical isolation to tech innovations such as robots that help support understaffed nursing homes and farms.

I have been traveling around Japan to see how society is dealing with the aging of its population and to document how elderly people are living in a variety of situations.