A massive tsunami brought about by low birth rates and a super-aging population
Japan is already in the midst of a raging wave.

"Japan is shaking" - a field report by Tokyo correspondent Jeong Yeong-hyo
Find the answers to Korea's future in this book.

The world is now facing a huge turning point: population decline.
The United Nations (UN) has warned that most developed countries will face a "demographic cliff" by the mid-21st century, and Japan and some European countries are already experiencing a labor shortage and aging populations that are shaking their entire social systems.
Korea, too, is earning the unsettling nickname of "the first country in the world to disappear" as its total fertility rate plummets to 0.7.
No longer a distant future, the ripple effects of population decline are looming, disrupting our daily lives and economies even now.
"The Final Solution for Japan's Disappearance" is a book that deeply records how Japan's low birth rate, super-aging society, and population decline are shaking up society as a whole.
Author Jeong Yeong-hyo served as the Tokyo correspondent for the Korea Economic Daily from 2020 to 2024, personally covering all of Japan.
It vividly documents scenes where daily life has come to a standstill due to a lack of manpower, such as bus routes being reduced, convenience stores being staffed only by foreign part-time workers, and construction sites being shut down.

This book does not simply list crisis phenomena.
It presents specific statistics and examples of the labor shortage in areas directly related to daily life, such as transportation, construction, logistics, restaurants, welfare, and childbirth policy.
At the same time, we analyze what responses the Japanese government, companies, and local governments attempted to address this issue, and what successes and failures there were in the process.
This article examines the field-based results of various experiments, including self-driving buses, cooking robots, telemedicine, and strengthening childcare infrastructure, offering lessons and insights that go beyond simple critique.

In particular, the author warns that Japan's present could soon become Korea's future.
In Korea, too, the number of employed people is expected to decline starting in 2029, and the economically active population is expected to decline starting in 2030.
As the massive waves of low birth rates and an aging population approach, examining Japan's trial and error and response strategies in advance is both a "preview" and a "survival strategy."

《The Final Solution for Japan's Disappearance》 is a sequel that expands on the population and society sections covered in its predecessor, 《Japan is Shaking》, and contains more specific and practical cases and analyses.
This practical, educational book vividly illustrates the impact of Japan's population decline, prompting Korean society to consider how to prepare for the coming crisis.

This book was written to warn of the obvious fact that the labor shortage, which you may have thought was a story from another world or a distant future, like the stories of certain industrial sites or rural areas, could actually strike our precious daily lives as soon as tomorrow.
The labor shortage is not simply a problem that ends at the level of inconvenience and regret due to a lack of workers.
It becomes a massive disaster that directly destroys our social infrastructure and destroys our daily lives that we have taken for granted.
This book aims to make that point clear.
--- From the "Introductory Note"

What was initially considered a labor shortage in some manufacturing sites has grown into a disaster that makes it difficult to maintain daily life and economic infrastructure.
As the previous examples demonstrate, the Japanese economy has been severely constrained by labor shortages since the COVID-19 pandemic.
If we compare the labor shortage to a boxing match, it would be like being hit directly by the one-two punch of low birth rate and aging population.
As the elderly retire in large numbers, the working population is shrinking, but the low birth rate is preventing new workers from being hired.
(Omitted) Our country is not in a position to just watch the fire across the river.
According to the Construction Workers' Compensation Association, the number of foreign workers working on construction sites in 2024 will reach 118,735, accounting for 16.2% of all on-site workers.
The proportion of foreign workers exceeded 15% for the first time in four years, compared to 2020 (12.9%).
This statistic is limited to foreign workers with legal residency status, and if illegal residents are included, the number is estimated to increase to around 420,000.
The self-deprecating remark at construction sites that “we can’t build a single building without foreigners” is by no means a joke.
--- From "Part 1, Chapter 1, "Japan's Workforce Disappearing at a Frightening Speed"

The difference between the highest minimum wage in Tokyo (1,113 yen) and the lowest minimum wage in Iwate (893 yen) in 2023-2024 was 220 yen.
This is more than double the 109 yen in 2006.
The regional gap in minimum wages in Japan is widening as talent flows from low-wage regions to high-wage major cities.
The regional minimum wage, which was created under the pretext of promoting balanced development by taking regional disparities into account, is actually exacerbating regional imbalances.
The cause is, of course, the labor shortage, which is the 'backlash of population decline'.
Japanese companies and restaurants suffering from chronic labor shortages are willing to compete with other regions for workers if they can secure them.
Areas with low minimum wages are at risk of losing all their young workers if they remain idle without any countermeasures.
--- From "Part 2, Chapter 4, "Minimum Wage War Sparked by Labor Shortages"

Japan has been on high alert since the early 2020s over the "logistics 2024 problem."
The Logistics 2024 problem refers to a situation in which a significant portion of logistics, including parcel delivery, will come to a halt due to a shortage of truck drivers starting in April 2024.
The change comes as truck drivers' annual overtime hours will be limited to 960 hours starting in April 2024, following the implementation of Japan's Work Style Reform Act, which introduces a 52-hour workweek.
There are already no people working, and even the working hours of those who are available are decreasing.
In conclusion, thanks to the desperate measures taken by the Japanese government and companies, there has been no mass disruption of delivery services as of 2025.
But the 2024 problem is not something that happened temporarily in April 2024.
It is a disaster that started only in 2024 and will continue to plague Japan until 2030.
--- From Chapter 5 of Part 2, “The ‘Logistics 2024 Problem’ Caused by Labor Shortages: Is There a Solution?”

The Japanese government is pursuing a policy to shorten the average waiting and boarding/disembarking time from three hours to less than two hours, and in the long term to less than one hour.
The goal was to reduce the redistribution rate from 12% to 6% by 2024, and various systems were introduced to achieve this goal, including installing delivery boxes and awarding points when receiving packages at convenience stores.
(Omitted) As we have seen so far, the Japanese government is making every effort to reduce its dependence on truck drivers, as if squeezing a dry towel.
Japan's logistics transport capacity is expected to increase by 6.3% by increasing truck loading efficiency from 38% to 50%, and by 7.5% by reducing driver waiting time from 3 hours to 2 hours and parcel redelivery rate from 12% to 6%.
If the revised Logistics Act is implemented from April 2025 and these measures are implemented with solid results, it is expected that the 30-35% decrease in transport capacity due to logistics issues in 2024 will be alleviated by about half (14.3%).
--- From Chapter 5 of Part 2, “The ‘Logistics 2024 Problem’ Caused by Labor Shortages: Is There a Solution?”

Meanwhile, what about South Korea's aging population? In 2020, the proportion of the population aged 65 and over was approximately 15.7%, appearing much more comfortable than Japan's 28.9%.
However, in 2035, it will closely follow Japan (approximately 32.8%) with approximately 30.1%, and in 2050, it will surpass Japan for the first time with approximately 40.1%.
Unlike Japan, where the elderly population will begin to decline around 2040, Korea's population will continue to age until 2065.
By 2065, Korea's aging rate is expected to soar to approximately 45.9%.
Currently, Japan is considered an aging country, with one in three Japanese people being elderly, but in reality, by 2065, Korea will become a country where half of the population is elderly.
It seems that we will have to endure for another 43 years before we can see the exit.
--- From "Part 3, Chapter 6, "Korea's Reversal Defeat to Japan"

Higashikawa, the "photography capital of Japan," is virtually selective about who it accepts as a migrant, in contrast to other local governments that offer generous subsidies.
But what's the secret behind the 25 consecutive years of population growth? The secret, revealed by Higashikawa County Office, is simple.
The goal is to create a ‘village that is truly livable’ and a ‘village where everyone wants to live.’
When it comes to living in the countryside, it's easy to think that you have to put up with an uncomfortable and rustic lifestyle in exchange for enjoying nature.
But in Higashikawa, it is just a stereotype that does not hold true.
The streets and shops are very stylish.
There are more nice cafes and cake shops here than in most downtown residential areas.
However, this does not mean that it is noisy or indiscriminately flashy.
Higashikawa is a place where nature and sophistication are in exquisite harmony.
That's why local people call it 'Higashikawa style'.
--- From "Part 4, Chapter 10, "Frustration and Success: The Story of Overcoming Japanese Local Governments"

However, this level of support is something that can be implemented in other regions as well.
In addition to basic economic support, what Nagicho focused on was emotional support.
Rather than creating a village where it is easy to raise children by giving them a lot of money, the goal is to create a village where the entire community participates in childcare, making raising children less difficult and tiring.
Nagicho's headmaster, Masachika Oku, said, "The characteristic of Nagicho's childcare environment is that it provides both financial and emotional support.
“The reason we created a facility (Nagi Child Home) where parents can discuss their child-rearing concerns, share the burden, and interact with others,” he said.
As he said, all residents of Nagicho, regardless of age or gender, participate in childcare.
The systems that clearly show the childcare environment of Nagicho, where the entire village is a daycare center, are the 'Job Convenience Store (Nagishigotoen)' and 'Nagi Child Home.'
--- From "Part 4, Chapter 10, "Frustration and Success: The Story of Overcoming Japanese Local Governments"

Taisei Construction and Itochu Corporation were early on in reforming their ‘way of working.’
Taisei Construction established a dedicated department to reform its work methods in 2006, and Itochu Corporation in 2010.
Both companies changed working conditions for all employees to improve the working environment for women.
To promote childcare leave, Taisei Construction has made it mandatory for all male employees to use childcare leave.
Itochu Corporation introduced a morning work system for all employees.
Instead of prohibiting overtime work after 8 p.m., workers who work between 5 and 8 a.m. are paid the same overtime pay as those who work late at night.
The reason the two companies are trying to revolutionize the way they work is because of the labor shortage caused by the declining population.
The birth rate miracle was an unexpected achievement of changing the way we work.
We also secured excellent female talent as originally planned.
The number of female engineers increased from almost none in 2005 to about 11% (873 people) of the total workforce by the end of 2023.
The proportion of female executives also rose to approximately 11.1% as of the end of 2023.
--- From "Part 4, Chapter 11, "Overcoming Japan's Low Birth Rate Led by Corporations"

Professor Kondo has garnered attention for his conclusion, based on decades of in-depth interviews with seniors, that “even if physical functions decline with age, happiness does not decrease.”
According to his research, human happiness declines significantly as people reach their 60s, when aging begins in earnest.
But after age 80, happiness increased again.
Health was irrelevant.
There was even a case where a 105-year-old woman who spent all day in bed was much happier than when she was in her prime at age 80.
Professor Kondo analyzed the reason as “the result of changing the standard of happiness instead of acknowledging aging.”
An important factor that determines the standard of happiness is solidarity with family and neighbors.
There is also research in Japan that shows that the more active the festivals are in a town, the healthier and longer the life expectancy is.
That is why the problem of aging in cities with weak solidarity with those around them is even more serious.
In Japan, lonely deaths have emerged as a social problem since the population began to age due to the influx of people into cities about 10 years ago.
--- From "Part 5, Chapter 12, "Japan's Breaking the Mold"

Telemedicine is a global trend.
But no one welcomes the reduction in income that comes with the introduction of new technologies and systems.
Japan allowed limited telemedicine in some areas following the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake.
It was to provide medical services to residents in areas where medical staff and hospitals had disappeared.
After going through a verification process of more than 10 years, opposition from doctors has been reduced.
(Omitted) Japan has also demonstrated its unique culture of fusion, which avoids sharp confrontations, in the introduction of telemedicine.
First, local medical institutions established a network to care for local patients, minimizing polarization on the supply side (medical staff).
(Omitted) Japan's 'step-by-step approach' to reducing side effects, even if it is a bit slow, is also worth referencing in our country's regional medical service problem, which is on the verge of collapse.

--- From “Part 5, Chapter 13, ‘Preventing Local Fat Destruction with Telemedicine’”