Japanese businessmen are forecast to soon be paying up to 75% of their income; in tax, insurance and pensions; and this is already being partly blamed for crippling the Japanese economy.

South of Hiroshima on the Seto
Inland Sea, lies a group of islands. It's one of the most beautiful Places
in Japan - but also the most geriatric area on the planet. They're known as
'the Islands of the Aged'. In Okikamuro the average age is 71. Catch a cab
and chances are your taxi driver will be 85. Get a haircut from an 84 year
old. Watch the children play except they're life-size mannequins Placed
there to cheer the Place up. With the longest life expectancy and one of the
world's lowest birth rates, Japan is in for a massive demographic change. In
6 years the population will start to shrink. By the end of the century
forecasts say it will have halved. "Never has a country aged so quickly, as
Japan's will do so in the next 10-15 years". Japanese businessmen are
forecast to soon be paying up to 75% of their income; in tax, insurance and
pensions; and this is already being partly blamed for crippling the Japanese
economy.

ABC Australia