In the economy session chaired by Professor Ippei Fujiwara (ANU & Keio University), Professor Sakakibara (UCLA) explained how Japan’s demographic structure has shifted from a healthy pyramid toward a ‘mushroom cloud’ and the resultant low unemployment consistent with shrinking population. She further explained the labour policy challenges Japan faces including: restrictions on labour mobility and the timing of new hires, barriers to entrepreneurship, restrictions on the gig economy, and the need for increased on-the-job training at the college level. Mr Takashi Kozu (Ricoh Institute of Sustainability and Business) gave an overview of external risks to the Japanese economy — the US-China trade war, an appreciating yen, and new manufacturing competition with China and South Korea. He also explained that while Japan’s productivity per worker per hour has been increasing, the number of regular employees has been levelling off since the late 1990s, the number of non-regular employees has been increasing, wages aren’t increasing, and that Japan has suffered from repeated mild deflation.