"Raising the interest rate would be a disaster. That is not an option. A long-term view towards structural and cultural shift is called for. What is needed is to introduce new energy in the labor market by removing barriers to immigration and improving the deployment of the female labor force."

Shin Takayam: Structural reforms are needed. Japanese fiscal and social security systems, which were established in a high growth period, assume population increase and require the people a small burden. However, in the ageing era, they wouldn't be sustainable. For sustainable fiscal and social security systems, it is necessary to call for more burden on the people.

In fact, an increasing number of politicians are advocating tax raise. In Upper house election campaign, held in July, both the DPJ, the ruling party, and the LDP, the largest opposition party suggested raising consumption tax rate. But, consensus hasn't been built yet among the people, it will likely take time to raise tax.

In my opinion, it is also necessary to increase the self-pay of medical costs and decrease the payment of public pensions. I mean I would like to ask the older people to bear more costs. Though their incomes are little, they have sufficient assets. In Japan, about 60% of the financial assets are held by the over-60s. It is reasonable to ask them to shoulder a fair share.

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