Part 2 – What has been the Japanese Experience In this, the second part of the series, we take a look at Japan. Japan was one of the dominant economies of the last century (it still is the 3 rd largest economy in the world) and has consistently enjoyed high levels of per capita income. However, during the last 30 years, the economy has hardly grown while it has rapidly aged. At the beginning (not too long ago; just about 150 years ago) most countries had high birth and high death rates resulting in slow population and low economic growth. Countries that had industrialized rapidly had started growing faster (though some may argue that colonialization played a part too). There is no doubt that industrial society harnessed labour and capital more effectively than a purely agrarian society could. After some time, economic growth results in better public health and a decrease in death rates, thereby stimulating population growth and, with a lag, faster economic ...