Educational - History Disappearing Japan: Old people

On route to Japan, I scanned the editorial page of the Wall Street Journal (rarely do that) and came across this HEADLINE : "Incredible Shrinking Japan - The great country’s population has fallen for 12 years in a row." So will Japan disappear before I get there? It is a major problem for the country: An older population. Fewer young people. A big economic burden. I was reminded that more than 30 years ago with ABC colleagues, I shot a documentary in which in one of the segments, we wondered about the plight of Japan's older population. We began by visiting a "pokkuri dera" where the elderly pray for a "quick and painless death!"