The 1930s may have been the high water mark of the Japanese empire.
Japanese imperialist ambitions tore their past and future from the Japanese like a Sumo wrestler throwing Madonna over a rail. After devastating acts of barbarianism against other Asian nations, and their subsequent annihilation by the US, Japan seemed to rise from their ashes to become the world's second largest economy
But that was then, now is now. After two decades of recession, earthquakes, tsunamis, and young males running from copulation, the Japanese dying. The population of the country has taken a nosedive, and in about 100 years all Japanese will disappear from the planet.
Of 117 million today, just 14 million are kids under 14. The population is aging and not reproducing. The birthrate has fallen to 1.35 per fertile woman, almost half the replacement figure. And more than 20% of Japan's people are aged 65 or over, one of the highest proportions of elderly in the world. Another reason the crushing impact and cost of medical and reduced productivity is looming large in Japan.
Theories abound, but the reality is set. A cruel irony given the ferocious spirit once prevalent in a tiny nation that once wanted to rule half the world.
