In 2023, the total population in Japan slightly decreased to just below 125 million people compared to the previous year, with the female population reaching around 63.9 million, as compared to 60.5 million men. The oldest population in the world  Japanese society is facing severe demographic problems such as decreasing birthrates, remaining under one million births annually recently, and a thereby aging population. The country’s average age lies at around 48 years, making its population the oldest in the world. Elderly people aged 65 years and older accounted for about 29 percent of the population in 2023. According to a forecast, the age group 65 years and older would make up approximately 39 percent of the Japanese population by 2070. Challenges with the demographic shift The rapid aging of the society poses significant economic and sociopolitical challenges to the country, as the workforce will continue to shrink while increasingly more elderly will receive long-term support. Currently, close to seven million Japanese require long-term care, leading to national benefit expenses of over 14 trillion yen annually, including in-home and community-based services.

In 2024, the overall gender gap index score in Japan reached 0.66 points, a slight increase compared to recent years. Japan ranked 118th out of 146 countries covered by the global gender gap index, placing the country far behind other G7 nations. Reasons behind Japan’s low ranking  Japan’s gender gap score in education and health indicated a closed or almost closed gender gap. However, in terms of political empowerment, Japan ranked well below the average global score, placing it among the lowest ranks within East Asia and the Pacific region. A high disparity between men and women in economic participation was another crucial reason for Japan’s poor ranking compared to other industrial nations. The low scores were mainly due to the nation’s small number of female parliamentarians, as well as a low ratio of women in managerial positions. Women in Japan Modern Japanese women enjoy more freedom, have better access to education, and have broader job opportunities compared to previous generations. Yet, traditional gender roles and male favoritism are still pervasive in Japanese culture. Japan's ongoing discussion on gender equality measures, or the lack thereof, is often highlighted in local and international media. The Japanese government currently aims to achieve a significant increase in female proportion in the political, judicial, and economic fields by the end of 2025, targeting 30 percent or more of the female share in a broad range of positions. This might fast-track the long-overdue generational change, which seems necessary to incite diversity in the country.

Young adults were the most common users of fashion subscription services in Japan, according to a survey conducted in December 2024. While 10 percent of female respondents aged 20 to 29 years were either currently using or have used fashion-based subscription services, the share reached 14 percent among male respondents. A common scheme of fashion-type subscription services in Japan take the form of rental services, in which subscribers are sent pieces of clothing monthly for a fixed fee. Users can either send back a piece to receive a new item or purchase a piece if it fits their preferences.

Japanese population data was obtained from "Population by Sex and Sex ratio for Prefectures—Total population, Japanese population, October 1, 2016" in portal site of official statistics of Japan (https://www.e-stat.go.jp/en/stat-search/files?page=1&layout=datalist&toukei=00200524&tstat=000000090001&cycle=7&year=20160&tclass1=000001011679&tclass2val=0) and modified the layout a little. Two-tailed Fisher’s exact test was used to compare differences in distribution between the Japanese population and the autoimmune FXIII deficiency cases used in this study. (XLSX)

Species of Chamaelirium are known to be highly diversified in sexual characters, but there has been no detailed empirical approach to elucidate the mechanism and process of sexual diversification in the genus. This paper reports the results of population-based analyses on various sexual aspects of C. hisauchianum endemic to Japan. Of the 20 populations surveyed, eight (40%) were composed of facultative hermaphrodites highly labile in sexual expression, exhibiting a wide range of gradational variation from hermaphroditism through andromonoecy to male. The remaining 12 populations (60 %) consisted of females and facultative hermaphrodites. In them, 11.8–30.9% (mean 22.2%) of the individuals were female. With no reciprocal sex changes, females and facultative hermaphrodites were regarded as, plausibly genetically determined, discrete sex morphs. In contrast, sexual expression in both sex morphs appeared resource dependent. Besides the difference in floral sexual traits, the average ratio of ovuliferous flowers in females was higher than that in facultative hermaphrodites. The production of ovuliferous flowers by females was less susceptible to both field and cultivated conditions and tended to be significantly relatively higher under unfavorable growing conditions. Females were thus less plastic (or more persistent) in producing ovuliferous flowers (or female organs) than facultative hermaphrodites irrespective of internal and external conditions. In all populations, andromonoecious plants dominated (50.8–100%), which appeared to reflect the high plasticity in sex allocation of facultative hermaphrodites. The different modes of sex allocation were regarded as secondary sex characters and presumably stem from a difference in easiness or attainability of sexual reproduction between the two sex morphs. Methods Survey of sex morphs in populations A total of 20 populations of Chamaelirium hisauchianum, 18 are of subsp. kurohimense, and one each of subsp. hisauchianum and subsp. minoense, were surveyed in yearly flowering seasons mainly in the 1980s (Table 1). When populations were comparatively small, scapes (flowering stems) of all flowering plants were harvested and their sexual characters were examined in detail at a laboratory of Teikyo University at Hachioji, Tokyo, Japan. When populations were large, two to eight patches with an area from 1 m × 1 m to 7 m × 11 m were selected, and scapes of all flowering plants occurring therein were harvested and analyzed. The sex morph of a spike or plant was directly determined by calculating ratios of the component flower sex morphs (including abortive asexual flowers if present), or indirectly assessed by categorizing estimated ratios of component flower morphs into one of the morphs defined below (e.g. F1, AM2, M3). Though rare, when a plant has two or more flowering scapes, the ratios of flower morphs were averaged and the mean was taken to represent the plant. Observation of floral characters and measurements of floral parts Observations of floral characters and measurements of floral parts were made under a stereomicroscope. Lengths of well-developed tepals (upper tepals of flowers) and filaments were measured for at least three representative flowers selected from each spike. The measurements were averaged and the mean value for each spike was used. Where applicable, Student’s t-tests were used to statistically test the significance of differences between two groups of samples. Survey of changes in sex form or expression under cultivation Plants sampled from natural habitats were transplanted into the experimental botanical nursery of Teikyo University. Each plant was planted individually with an accession number in a pot. Using them, changes in spike length, total flower number (including abortive asexual flowers) per spike, and the combination and/or ratio of flower sex morphs per spike were successively monitored and recorded in each flowering season for up to seven consecutive years (i.e. up to eight flowering seasons, including the initial one when plants were first transplanted from natural habitats). Data obtained during cultivation were pooled and integrally compared with data obtained from natural habitats just prior to cultivation. List of abbreviations for sexual characters

A: Abortive and asexual.

A(-H): Innately hermaphroditic plant (spike) bearing only abortive flowers. A(-F): Innately female plant (spike) bearing only abortive flowers.

AM: Andromonoecious.

AM1: Andromonoecious plant (spike) with a ratio of hermaphroditic flowers > ca. 2/3 of all flowers borne (abortive flowers ignored).

AM2: Andromonoecious plant (spike) with a ratio of hermaphroditic flowers ca. 1/3–2/3 of all flowers borne (abortive flowers ignored).

AM3: Andromonoecious plant (spike) with a ratio of hermaphroditic flowers < ca. 1/3 of all flowers borne (abortive flowers ignored).

F: Female.

F1: Female plant (spike) with a ratio of female flowers > ca. 2/3 of all flowers borne (including abortive flowers).

F2: Female plant (spike) with a ratio of female flowers ca. 1/3–2/3 of all flowers borne (including abortive flowers).

F3: Female plant (spike) with a ratio of female flowers < ca. 1/3 of all flowers borne (including abortive flowers).

H: Hermaphrodite.

Fac. H: Facultative hermaphrodites, conditionally exhibiting hermaphroditism, andromonoecy, male or abortive/asexual state.

M: Male

M1: Male plant (spike) with a ratio of male flowers > ca. 2/3 of all flowers borne (including abortive flowers).

M2: Male plant (spike) with a ratio of male flowers ca. 1/3–2/3 of all flowers borne (including abortive flowers).

M3: Male plant (spike) with a ratio of male flowers < ca. 1/3 of all flowers borne (including abortive flowers).

Around nine percent of Japanese consumers were subscribed to food-based subscription services, with young men in their twenties representing the largest subscriber group. According to a survey conducted in December 2024 in Japan, 15 percent of male respondents aged 20 to 29 years stated to either currently use or have used subscription services for food and beverages. Major services providing food-based subscriptions include meal kit deliveries. Others include regular deliveries of snack boxes and coffee.

As of November 2024, the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) in Japan had ** female diet members of the House of Representatives, making up close to ** percent of LDP diet members. In the examined period, female members accounted for roughly ** percent of all the incumbent members of the house. The House of Representatives is the lower house of the Japanese parliament.

In 2024, the employment rate for women in Japan stood at **** percent, up from about **** percent in the previous year. The male employment rate was **** percent in 2024.Increasing number of working womenAs Japan is facing severe demographic challenges, the government has tried for many years to increase the number of women in the workforce. In 2013, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe declared his commitment to creating "a society in which women shine", calling it “a matter of the greatest urgency”. Since then, the number of employed women noticeably increased, exceeding ** million in 2024. Attitudes slow to changeDespite these advances, Japanese corporate culture as well as gender attitudes are only slowly changing. While the number of working women has certainly increased, some voices criticize that Japan still lags behind when it comes to women in leadership positions. This criticism is also extended to political leadership positions, as women in the House of Representatives made up around ** percent of diet members in 2023.

According to a survey conducted in Japan between June and July of 2022, more than 16 percent of women and close to 17 percent of men stated to be currently members of sports clubs. Various types of sports clubs exist, including community groups and clubs, private clubs, and workplace clubs, among others.

The number of recorded rapes in Japan increased to approximately ***** cases in 2024 from the previous year. The number of reported non-consensual indecencies also increased to nearly ***** cases. In 2023, amendments to the Penal Code expanded the definition of rape, which up to that point was interpreted as forced intercourse, including forced anal and oral sex, to non-consensual intercourse.

In 1900, the fertility rate in the region of present-day South Korea was six children per woman, meaning that the average woman born in South Korea in that year could expect to have six children over the course of their reproductive years. This number began to fluctuate in the 1930s, when the Japanese administration (the Korean peninsula had been annexed by Japan in 1910) promoted fertility as part of the war effort, before fertility dropped below 5.2 births per woman in the aftermath of the war. It then increased above 6.3 in the 1950s due to the devastation and mass-displacement caused by the Korean War. As stability returned to the region, South Korea's fertility rate would fall sharply throughout the remainder of the century, as modernization, urbanization, and the implementation of family planning programs would see fertility fall to just over 1.5 children per woman by 1990.

Sex-selective abortion and gender ratios Abortion was illegal in South Korea between 1953 and 2020, although it was permitted in some cases from 1973 onward. Despite this, these laws were rarely enforced, and sex-selective abortion became widespread following advancements in ultrasound technology. In many Asian societies, it was often preferred to have male children as they were viewed as being better long-term providers for their parents and they would carry on the family name. In South Korea in the early 1990s, the practice of sex-selective abortion became so widespread that the gender ratio at birth was 114 males for every 100 females (reportedly as high as 125 in some cities), compared to the historical and natural average of approximately 105 males per 100 females. The government then prohibited doctors from revealing the gender of unborn babies to the parents in 1987, and introduced more severe penalties in 1994, in an attempt to revert this trend. The gender imbalance then reduced in the following decades, and has been at 106 males per 100 females since the 2010s (roughly the natural average). Abortion rights in South Korea were expanded in 2021.

Lowest in the world? Despite government initiatives aimed at increasing fertility, including financial incentives, South Korea's fertility rate has continued to fall in recent years, and today is at around half of replacement level. In 2020, it is estimated that the average woman born in South Korea will have just over one child over the course of their reproductive years. Some critics cite economic factors, such as high education and housing costs, for the reason that young couples are postponing marriage and having families; today, South Korea has the lowest adolescent fertility rate, and the lowest overall fertility rate in the Asia Pacific region. Due to the current trajectory of South Korea's fertility rate, in January 2021, it was announced that the South Korean population experienced a natural decline for the first time in it's history.