[Molly Cowan Johnson]

When we discuss population growth and limits on population in Geography, we usually discuss both China and Japan. China for their family planning policies where we analyze the pros and cons of such a plan and what the impacts have been. With Japan, discussing an aging population, I compare it to the Baby boomers and do a cultural comparison. As awkward as it might be I ask them about their plan for when their own parents get old. With that we discuss retirement communities and old folks’ homes but then I have them research anything like that in Japan. We discuss the differences in culture between the US and Japan. This also leads us into a discussion of declining population about why people would or would not want children. We talk about the economics of it and social structures that make it easier or harder.

[Molly Cowan Johnson]

I am teaching geography this year and several topics discussed in this session would great to incorporate into our class discussion. Climate change for instance is one of the topics we discuss so I thought it would be interesting to do a comparison between the water shortages in East Asia compared to our own water shortages here in the United States. Given the fact that we have a lot more renewable water resources are an interesting point of comparison.

The “End of the Rice Age” reading kind of blew my mind because I never really thought about food consumption and an aging population. When we talk about aging populations in the world, I always talk about Japan so it is fascinating that there is that connection. That is something I will definitely be using in my Geography class.

[Author]

Posts