Population Changes in Japan

Population Changes in Japan Mustafa Ameen Introduction Population in a country is a source of vitality, and it is involved in a variety of costs to maintain a reasonable standard of living. Particularly for resource-poor Island nation like Japan, which has a population of very large or excessively small is a serious problem. Size is not the only issue; structure of the population is also an important factor. For example, it can be severe imbalances between the sexes threaten the stability of marriage and the family in society monogamous. If the number of senior citizens is large compared with the working-age population, the latter bears a heavy burden to support, and possibly the collapse of the pension system. Issues such as these cannot be ignored by anyone who wishes to understand the political choices and social problems facing Japan or to consider the prospects for the countrys future in the near term. This case study looks at the country with a declining and aging population. Japan has a population of about 127 million people, the tenth largest in the world, but it is unusual because the population is decreasing. Only a small number of other countries (such as Italy, Germany and Russia) have low population, but none is expected to fall as fast as the population of Japan. The mortality rates also declined dramatically, and the result was that the average length of life has increased by about 30 years over the past half-century. Average life expectancy is now 82 for women and 76 for men. The percentage of people aged 65 years or more than 14% of the population in 1994, and by 2020 is expected to be the number one in the world through this procedure Japan. Japan has nearly 27 million people, the elderly and the largest proportion of over- 65S from any country (21 %, see Figure 1). It also has a smaller proportion of the population under the age of 15 (13.6 %), which will lead to great difficulties for Japan in the future, as the number of employees will not be able to support the population. These changes occur more quickly in Japan than in Europe or the United States, and can seriously affect the economy of one of the richest countries in the world. Rate of Change of population in Japan Until recently, in the 1950s, and Japan is facing a chronic problem too many mouths to feed. In the Edo period (1600-1868) held by the population and the media as a desperate infanticide and abandonment of the elderly. Japans population grew rapidly as it industrialized in the early twentieth century, an increase from 60 million in 1926 up to 100 million in 1967. Since the 1980s, however, has slowed population growth, after peaking in 2005, is now in decline. It is estimated that the population will fall to 121 million by 2025 and 100 million by 2050. What is more alarming is that the proportion of older persons will increase, and by 2030 it is estimated that one person in three will be over 65. This puts great pressure on the country. The course was a contraceptive on the main key for the decline in fertility. And practiced widely in Japan birth control; condom use on a large scale private. And the availability of abortions also undoubtedly helped unwanted pregnancy reduction. Abortion was legalized in Japan in 1948. The law allows for the termination of pregnancy is when persistence poses a serious threat to the physical health of the mothers or for economic reasons. Extended explanation of these causes physical or economic condition is the basis for most abortions. The changing demographics in the population pyramids are shown in Figure 1. Pyramid for 1950 is cone-shaped, with a wide base. However, as the decreased birth and death rates, has changed the form of a large pyramid and will continue to do so. In the pyramid for 2005 is replaced by a broad base of essential part before the bulging; in 2050, there is the upper part of a much larger, which indicates the predominance of the ability of the elderly. Vigorous pace of change in demographics cannot be reversed or even slowed down significantly. Avoid economic stagnation and social and maintain inter-generational equity may be the biggest challenges facing Japan, which grow gray by the year. Figure 1 Japan’s changing population [3] Declining of the population in Japan The main reason for the decline in numbers is that Japanese women are not having enough children. Many Japanese who choose to marry at a later age than in April 2007, on average, between 28 and 30 years old, and this means that they have children later, or not at all. Many women decide to also not to marry, choose to study or pursue a career instead of having children. Japanese culture in the upbringing of children and usually left for the mothers. Very few men take any leave to care for children ( although they are entitled to do so ) , and opinion polls reveal that more than 40 % of parents did not change a nappy or put children to sleep. This fact , and the lack of child-care facilities , which means that the small number of women returning to work after having children , and many women feel and others will have to give up a lot in order to have a family . There are also strong economic reasons why people choose not to have children or to have one or two only. Being pregnant is expensive in Japan, and pregnancy is not covered by health insurance. This means that women should pay for their own medical care during pregnancy, including hospital tests. After birth, and is provided free health care for all children up to the age of three years (or five in some areas). He added that this is the huge costs of education and higher education, and many families decide they can only afford to have one or two children at most. Child Benefit paid by the government to the families of low and barely enough to pay for diapers , not to mention other costs associated with having a family . The effect of population declination in Japan There are two types of special problems that will result from population decline. The first is the cost of caring for people as they get older, and the second is the lack of younger workers to fill the jobs. And more and more people reach retirement age, the country will need to find more money for their pensions. This means that already raising the retirement age and gets more contributions from both employers and employees, and theyll have to revisit again in the future. Already there is evidence of older workers in the shops, at airports, in the Tokyo subway or taxi driving. In the future there will be great pressure on the country as it tries to provide adequate health care to support the elderly. This inevitably means larger tax bills for people who work. The second problem and the most pressing is that companies find it difficult to hire new employees, and this will become more difficult in the future. If you cannot fill the jobs, then productivity will fall, and so the country will prosper. Box 1 World population over 65 Japan Figure 2 Map showing the worldwide distribution of people over 65 years old Figure 3 World map showing land areas The map in Figure 2 is an equal area cartogram in which each country has been sized according to the percentage of its population that is over 65. The colors used group the territories into 12 geographical regions, and allow it to be compared with other maps in the World mapper series (see web link at end of article). Figure 3 is a standard world map based on land areas and using the same colors, for comparison. In 2002, 7% of the world’s population was over 65. The map shows Japan, in purple, with a large elderly population at 21%. This contrasts with Saudi Arabia, where only 1% of the population is over 65. China has the largest elderly population in terms of numbers (92 million), but this is only 7% of the total Chinese population. Africa is home to only 6% of the world’s population aged over 65. Conclusion and future work In the long run, it is hoped that Japanese women can be persuaded to have more children, but social attitudes and trends is difficult for the government to address. Consideration is being given in the reforms, such as increasing the amount of the subsidy of the child, and the provision of tax allowances for families, and make child care more accessible, in the hope that this would lead to an increase in birth rates. However, many people do not think that an increase in birth rates that were not there are also social and cultural changes. In the short term, Japan should solve the labor shortage there. One way is clear to encourage more immigration. Currently there are only about 2 million foreigners live in Japan, and this is not anywhere near enough. There is a need for workers in the full range of functions, including dirty or dangerous jobs that Japanese people do not want to do ( such as cleaning or working in residential homes ) and functions that people need to be highly skilled and trained . Shortage in the engineering and computer programming Japan is well known. Some estimates say that Japan will need at least 500,000 immigrants each year over the next 40 years in order to keep pace. Difficulty with this, however, is that the Japanese as a nation are opposed to immigration. People born Japanese make up 98.5 % of the population, and it is difficult for foreigners to be accepted or to become citizens of Japan. In comparison with Switzerland this rate is 18% of the foreign workforce. Although the Japanese government is considering how to encourage more migrant workers, it also wants to impose controls on immigration. It would be difficult to change the views of the majority of the Japanese people, who fear that immigration threatens to what they see as the purity of Japanese culture. There is no doubt that Japans population in decline, and despite the fact that the government is aware of this problem, and many feel they have been slow to respond. It is unlikely that the elderly population is smaller and increasingly will be able to maintain the productivity and prosperity of the country, unless steps are taken to address the issues of population decline. Figure 3 current population pyramid for japan [5] References World mapper: www.sasi.group.shef.ac.uk/worldmapper/ wikipedia.org/wiki/Aging of Japan http://www.ithaca.edu/gerontology/schools/pdf/Aging%20in%20Japan.pdf http://www.worldmapper.org/articles/WW_Japan_pop.pdf http://www.indexmundi.com/japan/age_structure.html 1

Marketing & Sustainability Essay

What exactly is marketing? Is it just convincing people to buy products through various media? Billboards, TV commercials, junk mail and magazines filled with advertisements? From the consumer’s perspective, that is how it seems (Kotler et al. 2010, p. 5). But from a business’s standpoint, marketing is viewed very differently. Marketing is viewed as being based on an exchange relationship between a business and its customers, where a business offers something of value, and customers purchase this product, which provides the business with the means to continue producing this item of value (Moscardo et al. 2010, p. 277). Where does sustainability fit into marketing? In the past, the discipline of marketing has been accused of stimulating unsustainable levels of consumption amongst consumers (Rettie, Burchell & Riley 2012 p. 420). Now with the impact of our overconsumption starting to take its toll on our earth, marketers must reassess its strategies and practices to accommodate the reality of limited resources and the environmental impact our consumption is having on the planet. In order to sustain our valuable resources for future generations, businesses need to re-evaluate their research and development strategies, production methods and financial and marketing practices (Kotler 2011, p. 132). This involves integrating social and environmental concepts into conventional marketing strategies (Peattie & Belz 2010, p. 9). Consumer behaviour In the chapter by Wells, et al, the relevance of consumer behaviour in marketing is discussed and broken down into the â€Å"four A’s† of sustainable consumer behaviour, Awareness, Acceptance, Ability and Action. This addresses a method that can be used to encourage consumers to support and engage in sustainable behaviours (Moscardo et al. 2010, p. 277). Awareness In order for a customer to buy a green product, they must be aware of the sustainability issues that are being addressed by the product. If you are not aware of a problem, how can you make changes to address it? A study conducted by whirlpool discovered that because its customers were not aware  of what CFC’s were, they refused to pay a premium for a CFC-free refrigerator (Kotler et al. 2010, p. 23). Although many consumers remain uninformed about the seriousness of sustainability issues, the number of people considering the environment and social issues when making a purchase is on the rise. A study in Norway in 2011 discovered that most participants were aware of the sustainability concept, which when compared to a similar study performed in 1995, showed an increase in the familiarity of sustainability. It is plausible that this could be due to increased media coverage on the issue and is an encouraging finding for sustainability marketing (Hanss & Bohm 2012, p. 679). Acce ptance In order to want to solve a problem, you need to accept the problem as true and relevant. One factor influencing the acceptance of a particular behaviour is the individual’s level of concern about an issue (Galbreth & Ghosh 2012, p. 128). Is climate change really an issue or is it just another far-fetched theory being hyped up by the media? (Moscardo et al. 2010, p. 284). People believing the latter may be more likely to disregard products promoting their efforts of reducing their impact on climate change. Another factor that can affect a consumer’s willingness to participate in sustainable behaviours is the social acceptability of that action. The social acceptability of sustainable behaviours as a whole is becoming less of an issue in recent times, as environmental consciousness has seen things like locally and organically grown produce become more mainstream (Sheth & Sisodia 2012, p. 77). Personal biases can also play a role in acceptance. Some consumers may believe that products made from recycled materials may be of inferior quality and therefore their performance and reliability would be negatively affected (OECD 2009, p. 46). Ability Ability refers to whether a person has the means in which to pursue the desired action. Products labelled as â€Å"organic†, â€Å"biodegradable†, â€Å"made from recycled material† or other similar green claims are generally priced higher than conventional products (Kotler et al, 2010 pg 405). Low income earners, students, pensioners and the unemployed may not be able to afford a premium on sustainable products and will buy the cheapest alternative conventional product. Also, not all products on the market may have an available green  alternative and therefore the consumer has no choice but to purchase a non-green product (Moscardo et al. 2010, p. 284). Greenwashing In the text, the issue of greenwashing was addressed and its impact on consumer purchase decisions and on the sustainability market. Greenswashing can be described as â€Å"the practice of overemphasising a company’s environmental credentials, often by misinforming the public or understating potentially harmful activities† (Doyle 2011). The practice of greenwashing has led to consumers being more sceptical of products marketed as ‘green’ or ‘environmentally friendly’. This scepticism may result in consumers avoiding sustainable products for fear that the ‘green’ labelling may indicate an inferior product using promises of sustainable resources and production to increase its prices (Rettie Burchell & Riley 2012, p. 422). One Study in Norway showed that labelling of products was considered the most indicative way to ensure the sustainability of the product and that consumers tended to favour labels in which they were familiar. As there are a large number of eco and fair trade labels used in Norway, customers intending to purchase sustainable products may avoid perfectly good sustainable products due to the lack of familiarity of the label and therefore trust and confidence in the product (Hanss & Bohm 2012, p. 685). Convenience As stated in the text, convenience and green products are not generally two terms that go together, and there has often been a trade-off between convenience and sustainability. Although rechargeable batteries are more environmentally friendly, It is a lot more convenient to just replace old used batteries with new ones and throw the old ones away. In a constantly moving, time poor world, convenience is highly valued by customers, and sustainable products that cannot match the convenience of its conventional rivals may be unsuccessful in the marketplace (Peattie & Belz 2010, p. 13). Communication When all is said and done, it all comes down to effective communication. Communication is vital to make consumers aware of the development of products and solutions tackling the issue of sustainability, and how they can meet customer’s needs and be efficiently integrated into their life style (Peattie & Belz 2010, p. 13). Conclusion This article effectively examines the challenges presented to companies in the sustainable production and marketing of their products. The movement towards the use of renewable materials is clear, nevertheless, consumers may be reluctant to accept these products for a variety of reasons. By examining the issues confronted by businesses today the chapter addresses the main concepts of consumer behaviour and the challenges for the future. Customer expectations are one of the main considerations in producing and marketing a product. While the author discusses the concept of awareness, one aspect that may have been mentioned is possible strategies a company might use in order to effectively increase awareness and methods for effective communication. References Doyle, C 2011, A Dictionary of Marketing, 3rd edn, Oxford University Press, NY. Galbreth, MR & Ghosh, B 2012, ‘Competition and Sustainability: The Impact of Consumer Awareness’ Decision Sciences, vol. 44, no. 1, pp. 127 – 159. Hanss, D & Bohm, G 2012, ‘Sustainability seen from the perspective of consumers’, International Journal of Consumer Studies, vol. 36, no. 6, pp. 678 – 687. Kotler, P 2011, ‘Reinventing marketing to Manage the Environmental Imperative’, Journal of Marketing, vol. 75, pp 132-135. Kotler, P, Brown, L, Burton, S, Deans, K & Armstrong, G 2010, Marketing, 8th edn, Pearson Australia, Frenches Forest, NSW. Morcardo, G Lamberton, G, Wells, G, Fallon, W, Lawn, P, Rowe, A, Humphrey, J, Wiesner, R, Pettitt, B, Clifton, D, Renouf, M & Kershaw, W 2013, Sustainability in Australian Business: Principles and Practice. Wiley-Blackwell, Milton, QLD. OECD 2008, Promoting Sustainable Consumption: Good Practices in OECD Countries, OECD, viewed on March 28th, www.oecd.org/greengrowth/40317373.pdf. Peattie, K & Belz, FM 2010 ‘Sustainability Marketing – An Innovative Conception of Marketing’ Marketing Review St. Gallen, vol. 27, no. 5, pp. 8-15. Rettie, R, Burchell, K & Riley, D 2012 ‘Normalising green behaviours: A new approach to sustainability marketing’, Journal of Marketing Management, vol. 28, no. 3-4, pp. 420-444. Sheth, JN & Sisodia, RS 2012, The 4A’s of Marketing: Creating Value for Customers, Companies and Society, Taylor & Francis, NY.

Compare and Contrast. Russia and Japan

Both Japan and Russia experienced a major economic development during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The government played a major role in both countries economic growth due to their support in industrialization and economic succession.Government support in order to build up industrial production systems, such as factories and infrastructure was heavy in both nations and resulted in radical political change, however they ways in which the two countries achieved their development goals differed in some aspects, for example, Russian industry did not require government support in getting raw materials for production like Japanese industries did.During At the time both countries were far behind in the global race to industrialize and desperately desired to catch up. This motivated the two governments to take drastic measures to catch up, but with the exception of a few basic principles they did so in very different ways.Russia, officially referred to as the Soviet Union at the t ime was under the leadership of Joseph Stalin. He industrialized using a tightly regulated system known as The First Five-Year Plan. This plan included many laws, the establishment of production quotas, collective farms, and established heavy government regulation over the economy.It was successful in industrializing Russia at a whirlwind pace with the creation of many factories and huge technological advancements, but at a large cost of the lives and freedom of many Russian peasants. The collective farms failed to produce a food supply sufficient to feed the people resulting in widespread starvation.Japanese emperor Meiji played a large role in the economic development of Japan, as Stalin did in the USSR, but he did so in a very different way. Meiji created state-sponsored factories that were paid for largely with revenue from tax increases imposed on the citizens.However his reforms were broad scope and encompassed many aspects of life. For example, he ended the feudal system in J apan and introduced a modern Westernized system, a very different social change than that of Stalin who pushed his citizens further into poverty.With an increase in industrial production and economic progress, the need for resources also increases, and that was a challenge both countries had to face but dealt with differently according to their needs and the resources they had within their borders. In Japan the demand for resources such as coal and metals needed to fuel production exceeded the resources that could be recovered from its own islands.This lead to a series of imperialistic  military conquests of foreign lands that were brutally colonized in order to export as many raw materials as possible to the industrial factories of Japan. Russia was able to keep the supply of materials flowing into their production lines by obtaining resources from regions within the country.The areas of resources were far from industrial centers so transportation infrastructure had to be built i n order to get the raw materials into factories. The government created projects such as the Trans-Siberian Railroad, with workers sourced from labor camps containing political prisoners and prisoners of war.The life span of these dispensable workers was very short because of the harsh working conditions and poor treatment. In order to feed their industrial production lines the raw materials they needed, both countries went to great lengths to obtain the needed resources, killing countless numbers of civilians in the process.In conclusion the government played a heavy role in economic progress for both nations resulting in huge loses of civilian life, but they spurred on development in different ways. The methods of industrialization each country used set up the stage for how each would interact globally from then on, especially in WWII.

Synonymy Definition and Examples

Pronunciation: si-NON-eh-mi Definition: The semantic qualities or sense relations that exist between words (lexemes) with closely related meanings (i.e., synonyms). Plural: synonymies. Contrast with antonymy. Synonymy may also refer to the study of synonyms or to a list of synonyms. In the words of Dagmar Divjak, near-synonymy (the relationship between different lexemes that express similar meanings) is a fundamental phenomenon that influences the structure of our lexical knowledge (Structuring the Lexicon, 2010). Examples and Observations The phenomenon of synonymy is a central interest for both the semanticist and the language learner. For the former, synonymy is an important member of the theoretical set of logical relations existing in language. For the latter, there is a good deal of evidence to suggest that vocabulary is often best acquired by analogy, in other words, remembered as being similar in meaning to previously acquired forms... In addition, what we might term definition through synonym is a central feature of most dictionary organisation (Ilson 1991: 294-6). For motives of stylistic variation, non-native learners and translators have a pressing need to find lexical alternatives to express a particular concept, especially in writing. Harvey Yuill (1994) found that searches for synonyms accounted for over 10 percent of dictionary consultations when learners were engaged in a writing task. However, given the rarity of absolute synonymy, learners also need to know which of the particular synonyms given by dictionaries and thesauruses is the most suitable for any given context.(Alan Partington, Patterns and Meanings: Using Corpora for English Language Research and Teaching. John Benjamins, 1998)​The Productivity of Synonymy - The productivity of synonymy is clearly observable. If we invent a new word that represents (to some extent) the same thing that an existing word in the language represents, then the new word is automatically a synonym of the older word. For example, every time a new slang term meaning automobile is invented, a synonym relation is predicted for the new slang term (say, ride) and the standard and slang terms that already exist (car, auto, wheels, etc.). Ride does not need to be inducted as a member of the synonym set—no one has to say ride means the same thing as car in order for the synonym relation to be understood. All that must happen is that ride must be used and understood to mean the same thing as car—as in My new ride is a Honda.(M. Ly nne Murphy, Semantic Relations and the Lexicon. Cambridge University Press, 2003)Synonymy, Near-Synonymy, and Degrees of Formality - It should be noted that the idea of sameness of meaning used in discussing synonymy is not necessarily total sameness. There are many occasions when one word is appropriate in a sentence, but its synonym would be odd. For example, whereas the word answer fits in this sentence: Cathy had only one answer correct on the test, its near-synonym, reply, would sound odd. Synonymous forms may also differ in terms of formality. The sentence My father purchased a large automobile seems much more serious than the following casual version, with four synonymous replacements: My dad bought a big car.(George Yule, The Study of Language, 2nd ed. Cambridge University Press, 1996)Synonymy and Polysemy - What defines synonymy is precisely the possibility of substituting words in given contexts without altering the objective and affective meaning. Inversely, the irreducib le character of the phenomenon of synonymy is confirmed by the possibility of providing synonyms for the various acceptations of a single word (this is the commutative test of polysemy itself): the word review is the synonym sometimes of parade, sometimes of magazine. In every case a community of meaning is at the bottom of synonymy. Because it is an irreducible phenomenon, synonymy can play two roles at once: offering a stylistic resource for fine distinctions (peak instead of summit, minuscule for minute, etc.), and indeed for emphasis, for reinforcement, for piling-on, as in the mannerist style of [French poet Charles] Pà ©guy; and providing a test of commutativity for polysemy. Identity and difference can be accentuated in turn in the notion of partial semantic identity.So polysemy is defined initially as the inverse of synonymy, as [French philologist Michel] Brà ©al was the first to observe: now not several names for one sense (synonymy), but several senses for one name (pol ysemy).(Paul Ricoeur, The Rule of Metaphor: Multi-Disciplinary Studies in the Creation of Meaning in Language, 1975; translated by Robert Czerny. University of Toronto Press, 1977)