“Unless radical policies are implemented, it is simply a matter of time before manufacturing, consumption, tax receipts, fiscal health, the pension and welfare system, and the very ability of people to make a living will all collapse under the inexorable dual pressures of rapid ageing and rapid declines in the young working population.”

The government will introduce a point system by the end of the year to give preferential treatment, such as easing the conditions for permanent residency, to non-Japanese with advanced expertise who want to come to Japan, according to a government source.