"Rich in documentary information and theoretical background, revealing, disturbing, prophetic—this is one of the most important books to be written on Japan in recent years."
- Alex Kerr,
author of Lost Japan (Winner of the 1994 Shincho Gaugei Prize for Distinguished Scholarship) and Dogs and Demons: Tales from the Dark Side of Japan
"An ambitious and tremendously important contribution to the study of contemporary Japanese society ... one of the best books on contemporary Japan produced in the past 30 years and represents a must read for scholars of Japan, demographers, and anyone interested in processes of population change that will affect many parts of the world in the future."
- Prof. John W. Traphagan, University of Texas at Austin
author of Taming Oblivion: Aging Bodies and the Fear of Senility in Japan and The Practice of Concern: Ritual, Well-Being, and Aging in Rural Japan; and coeditor of Demographic Change and the Family in Japan's Aging Society
"This excellent book presents many case studies and abundant evidence for a new regional dynamism in Japan. It provides hints for all countries and regions attempting to overcome problems associated with ageing and depopulation and to realize stability and sustainability for their societies."
- Prof. Yuji Genda, Institute of Social Science, University of Tokyo,
and author of A Nagging Sense of Job Insecurity: The New Reality Facing Japanese Youth and Kibögaku no Tsukurikata
"This timely volume offers an in-depth view of demographic shrinkage in those regions where it is most rapid and pronounced ... it goes beyond identifying the impacts and problems of shrinkage for Japan's regions to making policy recommendations for revitalisation and revealing hidden opportunities to develop a new, more environment-friendly way of life that is of potential interest for other advanced countries facing regional shrinkage."
- Prof. Florian Coulmas, Director, German Institute for Japanese Studies, Tokyo;
author of Imploding Populations in Japan and Germany and Population Decline and Ageing in Japan: The Social Consequences; and coeditor of The Demographic Challenge: A Handbook About Japan