Exploring the impact of depopulation on a country's population geography: Lessons learned from Japan

The total population of Japan reached its peak in 2008 and has since experienced population decline. This trend has had a profound effect on many of the country's spheres of activity. The purpose of this article is to comprehensively review the existing literature, mainly published since the peak year, through the perspective of the impact of Japan's depopulation on its population geography and to present future research issues based on the obtained findings. Consequently, three new research issues are presented as the lessons learned from the country. First, since the population decline of a country is a very serious problem, population geographers need to devote much more attention to this issue. Second, new analytical methods suitable for examining depopulation need to be developed carefully but actively. Third, population geographers should proactively state policy implications based on research findings associated with population decline. This is a great opportunity to improve the position of the sub-discipline in the countries whose populations have already started or are about to decline.