Today I watched two short videos about social issues in Japan today, including overcrowding and depopulation, low birthrates and aging populations. These videos were astonishing to me, and I became interested in these issues. What surprised me when I watched the two videos was one boy who had no classmates in the elementary school featured in the first video, and the village where the elementary school featured in the second video was closed. This is an example of the problems caused by the decrease in the number of children in various rural areas. I think this is indicative of various social problems in Japan today. For example, the number of jobs is decreasing in rural areas, resulting in an increasing outflow of population, and in urban areas, further concentration of population is becoming a problem. In addition, the birth rate in Japan is not increasing due to the increasing rate of unmarried people in Japan as well as what many say are insufficient systems such as the parental leave system. Thus, I felt that the video we have just watched is an important reminder of what we can expect from Japan today.