Tokyo keeps growing while Japan’s population is shrinking

After seeing the world’s busiest crossing, Shibuya crossing, in Tokyo, Japan, we decided to take a train back to Shinjuku for a nighttime walking tour.

The local Tokyo train was packed with office workers heading home. The experience was not very different from the Mumbai local or the New Delhi metro during peak hours. However, unlike India, Japan has lost approximately 3% of its population (~4 million) over the last 15 years. And there are ~9 million unoccupied houses in Japan.

That’s when it hit me, the population collapse is going to arrive unequally. Certain areas, usually rural, will be devoid of life. And the rest of us will pack ourselves into metropoles.