What life in Tokyo will be like in 100 years 2

Life in Tokyo will be quite different in 100 years. The main changes in society will be due to the aging population and advances in technology. The Japanese population is expected to fall from 127 million to 83 million in the next 100 years and this will cause big changes to Japanese society.

Probably the biggest change will be a huge increase in automation. Many tasks that are currently performed by people will be performed by computers and robots in the future. Restaurants and stores will probably be mostly automated in the future. When you go to a cheap restaurant you will tell the computer your order and a robot will prepare it for you. Of course there will probably still be one or two human staff members to keep an eye on the machines but the tasks will mostly be carried out by machines.

Even getting you groceries may be automated. Currently many companies are working on drone delivery services. Convenience and grocery stores might disappear completely and be replaced by personal drone delivery services. People will order their food online and then a drone will deliver it to their apartments.

Even some tasks that seem like they would be difficult for a computer to do may be performed by a computer in the future. For example some people think that writing cannot be done well by a computer but in the future even news articles may be written by a computer. Currently computers are used to write simple articles about local sports teams. All a person has to do is enter the game scores and the computer will write the rest. In the future, computers will be able to get information from online data and write news articles using the information.

Depending on how fast the changes happen the population may change as well. The number of immigrants in Japanese society is currently very low but if Japan wants to make up for a lower population, there will need to be more immigration. Japanese society will become more diverse. Currently only 2% of Japan’s population is foreign born, but in the future this might rise to 10%. Most European countries have the same problem of a shrinking population. They have solved this by having large foreign populations, usually between 8 and 15 percent. Japan may need a large foreign population to make up for the population loss it will experience.

The population problem will have some good effects as well. Tokyo is very crowded and housing is very expensive, but as the population declines rent will become cheaper and people may have larger apartments. Small, cramped apartments will be replaced by larger more comfortable ones. Kitchens might also get larger, allowing for bigger ovens and refrigerators. The trains will also get less crowded and there will be more room for people.

Overall, I think Japan will need to make big changes to its society to adapt to a lower population. If it gets the right combination of automation and immigration it can survive this big change. There may even be benefits to a lower population such as lower land values, lower rent, and more space.

Nathaniel

Vocabulary

automation (n) ? controlling something using machines and not people
keep an eye on (idiom) ? to watch or look after someone or something
perform (v) ? to do a job or a piece of work
make up for (idiom) ? to reduce the bad effect of something, or make something bad become something good
decline (v) ? a situation in which something becomes less in amount, importance, quality, or strength
adapt (v) ? to change (something) so to be more suitable for a different use or situation