Social Security Reform a Key Issue.

Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda has set up a national commission on social security reform to cope with the nation's aging baby boomers, who face retirement in a nation with too few workers to support government-promised benefits.

"I'm concerned whether we can go on with the current social security system, when the birthrate is falling and the population is aging at a pace not seen in other countries," Mr. Fukuda said in setting up the 15-member panel late last month. [...]

"There is still a conservative, traditional family culture, and it is just as important as the workplace culture. ... It is very difficult for women to do both," said Mr. Jackson, who heads the CSIS Global Aging Initiative.

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