, Columnist
Japan's Booming. Now It Needs More Immigrants.
Demographics don’t have to be destiny.
Japan is aging but defying forecasts.
Photographer: Behrouz Mehri/AFP/Getty ImagesThis article is for subscribers only.
Japan has served its time as a symbol of economic failure. Its latest growth surge puts it in a welcome new role.
The country’s demographics, according to conventional wisdom, are supposed to be bad for the economy. Instead, Japan unexpectedly shot to the top of Group of Seven club, with its gross domestic product notching 4 percent annual growth last quarter. That easily outpaced the 2.6 percent recorded in the U.S. during the same period.