Imploding Populations in Japan and Germany

Twenty-five essays, presented by Coulmas (Japanese studies, Duisburg-Essen U., Germany) and Lutzeler (Centre for Interdisciplinary Regional Studies, Ruhr-U. of Bochum, Germany), provide a comparative overview of population decline and ageing in Japan and Germany, principally, and some other European and East Asian countries for further comparative purpose. As an interdisciplinary whole, the essays integrate empirical observation, theoretical analysis, and policy discussion of demographic decline and the ways in which it interacts with social, economic, policy, and cultural change. Annotation c2011 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Florian Coulmas, chair of Japanese Studies, Duisburg-Essen University, and director of the German Institute for Japanese Studies, Tokyo. He has published extensively in Japanese Studies, most recently Population Decline and Ageing in Japan – the social consequences, London (2007), and Die Illusion vom Gluck. Japan und der Westen, Zurich (2009). He is co-editor of the Trilingual Glossary of Demographic Terminology (Brill, 2007) and The Demographic Challenge. A Handbook about Japan (Brill, 2008).Ralph Lutzeler studied Geography and Japanese Studies at the University of Bonn (Dr. phil. 1993, habilitation degree 2006). He was senior research fellow at the German Institute for Japanese Studies (DIJ), Tokyo (1993–98, 2007–10), and at the Department of Japanese Studies, University of Bonn (1998–2007). He is affiliated with the Centre for Interdisciplinary Regional Studies (ZEFIR), Ruhr-University of Bochum. He has published extensively on demography, human geography and urban society of Japan.