Japan facing internal economic threats as external security risks loom

Tokyo

WITH tensions rising rapidly over North Korea, what is seen as an imminent physical threat to Japan is dominating headlines, and overshadowed a report published at the end of last week showing that internal threats to the world's third largest economy continue to grow larger and faster.

The report from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) highlighted Japan's "rapidly ageing and shrinking population", the economy's "slowing productivity", and the fact that "already high government debt continues to increase".