In commemoration of World Population Day 11th July, JOICFP and the Council on Population Education (CPE) organized a Special Symposium on 6th July, under the theme of "The world with a population of 6.5 billion and Japan with a declining population." The symposium was supported by UNFPA, IPPF, and the Japan Family Planning Association, in cooperation with NGO 2050 and APDA.

Around 300 participants, including MPs, government officials, business representatives, NGOs, students and members of the public attended the event, held at UN University in Tokyo.

At the World Population Day Special Symposium

50 years of UN membership

In an opening address, Yasushi Akashi, Former Under-Secretary General, UN, and President, CPE, said it was now 50 years since Japan had joined the UN, and it needed to appraise its role and desired influence in the international community. Since 1997, he said, the trend of Japan's ODA had been declining, even though the role of Japan in world peace and development had become more important.

Akashi; the role of Japan in the world
has become more important

A dialogue between Yuko Arimori, UNFPA Goodwill Ambassador, and Sumie Ishii, Executive Director, JOICFP, focused on the reality of women's lives in Africa, based on Arimori's visit to Ethiopia. Using photographs from her visit, Arimori emphasized that it was now more important than ever for both UNFPA and the Japanese government to work together to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS, female genital mutilation, and fistula, and support women's health and gender equality in Africa.

New measures against lowest ever Japanese TFR

Under the coordination of Kiyoko Ikegami, Director, UNFPA Tokyo Office, Kuniko Inoguchi, Minister of State for Gender Equality and Social Affairs, gave a special presentation on new measures to cope with the declining fertility society in Japan.

In June 2006, the Japanese government introduced more proposals to tackle the record low total fertility rate (TFR) of 1.25 in 2005. Some of the measures include more financial incentives to have children, increased access to childcare, and more support from the business community for working parents.

Inoguchi stressed that children were the basis of any society, and people, including working fathers and the business community, needed to be made aware of this value. Reversing the TFR should be the priority of the government, she said.

Inoguchi also cited possible reasons for the decline in marriage among young people in Japan.

Arimori (left) with Inoguchi

Panel discussion on 6.5 billion world and Japan

In a panel discussion, coordinator Masahiko Nishiuchi, Director, Board of NPO 2050, said that world population was still an issue as by 2050 the population would rise to 9.1 billion, with milestones of 7 billion in 2012, and 8 billion in 2027, according to UN figures. Japan, however, was a super-low birthrate country and a super-aged one, with TFR at 1.25, and 21% of the population over 65 years old, he said, and was in a good position to give advice to other countries as to what they could expect demographically.

Makoto Atoh, Prof. Faculty of Human Sciences, Waseda University, explained that although the population explosion was ending, repercussions remained. Regional differences in the world were very obvious, with sub-Saharan Africa experiencing growing populations, while Japan's and many European countries' population was declining.

The 21st Century, he said, would be the century of world aging as developing countries started to age as well and birth rates continued to decline.

Speaking about the importance of the MDGs, and the goal of universal access to reproductive health by 2015, Ikegami explained that Japan's priority was its falling birthrate, and that attention to ODA and international challenges such as the MDGs was relatively low, despite the goals being reaffirmed in 2005 at the World Summit.

Japan, she said, had slipped from being UNFPA's number one donor to fifth, but this was shortsighted as half the world's population was now under 25 and UNFPA was focusing on their life skills education.

Keiko Higuchi, Chairperson, NPO, the Women's Association for a Better Aging Society, pointed out that Japan would become a society of 'grandmothers' as healthy aging continued. She emphasized that aged people were not just pensioners but a vital force that could contribute to economic development and offer support to younger people in bearing and rearing children.

The symposium received widespread media attention, with the minister's speech and the panel discussion in full being broadcast on national television news and a special program, Arimori's conversation being shown on a private channel television sports program, and all the major daily newspapers covering the event.