Japan’s population has been in steady decline since its economic boom of the 1980s, with a fertility rate of 1.3 – far below the rate of 2.1 required to maintain a stable population.
Deaths have also outpaced births in Japan for more than a decade, posing a growing problem for leaders of the world’s fourth-largest economy.
They now face a ballooning elderly population and shrinking workforce, in a challenge to fund pensions and health care as demand from the aging population surges.
Participants wearing only "Fundoshi" loincloths at the Somin-sai festival at Kokusekiji Temple in Iwate prefecture, Japan, on February 17, 2024.
The Somin-sai festival was one of three major “naked man” or Hadaka Matsuri festivals held in the country.
(evil, go away), as they streamed into the cold waters of the Yamauchigawa river to cleanse their body for preparation.
Two other Hadaka Matsuri festivals, at the Saidaiji Kannonin Temple in Okayama prefecture and Kuronuma Shrine in Fukushima prefecture, will press ahead next year. »
