Japan Recognizes 'Death by Overwork' as a Legal Cause of Death

Since the early 2000s, Japan has had more registered pet cats and dogs than children under the age of 15. With one of the world's lowest birth rates and a pet-keeping culture deeply embedded in urban life, Japan's pet industry generates over 1.5 trillion yen annually. This demographic shift underscores Japan's broader aging and declining birth rate crisis.

Japanese is written using three scripts: hiragana (syllabic, for native words), katakana (syllabic, for foreign words and emphasis), and kanji (logographic characters borrowed from Chinese). A standard educated Japanese person is expected to know 2,136 kanji characters designated by the government, plus thousands of other characters used in names.

Japan's bullet train network, the Shinkansen, is renowned for an average delay of just 54 seconds per train — including delays caused by natural disasters. Operating since 1964, it has an exceptional safety record with zero passenger fatalities from crashes. The trains are so precisely timed that workers use stopwatches and apologize publicly for delays over one minute.

Japan consistently leads the world in longevity. As of the early 2020s, Japan had over 90,000 centenarians — people aged 100 or older. Women outnumber men by about six to one among centenarians. Factors include diet (especially in Okinawa), strong social bonds, universal healthcare, and cultural attitudes toward aging.