November 2024
13Nov

Danish pension fund pushes for Japan, Korea to abandon coal

PensionDanmark, Denmark’s $51 billion pension fund, is calling on Japan and South Korea to completely wean themselves off coal-generated power by 2030. “We have decided not to finance new coal power planned after 2023 anywhere in the world," Jan Kæraa Rasmussen, head of ESG and sustainability at PensionDanmark told AsianInvestor. "Our ask for utilities in developed countries, including in Japan and South Korea, is that they present comprehensive plans to phase out coal as soon as possible. And that should be closer...

November 13, 2024
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October 2024
25Oct

Well-Being of Older People in East Asia: The People’s Republic of China, Japan, and the Republic of Korea

By Hidehiko Ichimura, Xiaoyan Lei, Chulhee Lee, Jinkook Lee, Albert Park, & Yasuyuki Sawada East Asia is undergoing a rapid demographic transition and “super” aging. As a result of steadily decreasing fertility and increasing life expectancy, older people’s proportion of the population and the old-age dependency ratio is rising across all countries in East Asia, particularly in the People’s Republic of China (PRC), Japan, and the Republic of Korea (ROK). In this paper, we empirically investigate the well-being of older...

October 25, 2024
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September 2024
18Sep

Japan faces labor shortages and demographic crisis as elderly population hits record high

Japan commemorated its “Respect for the Aged Day” earlier this week, with the national holiday underscoring a somewhat problematic fact — the country has a record number of elderly citizens to celebrate. Government data released ahead of the event showed that Japan’s population aged 65 and over had risen to an all-time high of 36.25 million. While the country’s overall population has been declining, the segment of those aged 65 and above has grown to 29.3% of the population, the highest...

September 18, 2024
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05Sep

Working till your 70s — Japan’s prospective gift to the world

Japanese people are living longer, but with a struggling pension system and the highest inflation in decades, more are delaying retirement until their 70s or later to make ends meet. Michie Hino is one of them. She works at an elderly care home east of Tokyo, where she spends eight hours a day cleaning the facility and washing laundry even though she’s 77 years old herself. She’s part of the workforce supporting Japan’s growing ranks of aged and infirm. Her monthly...

September 5, 2024
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August 2024
02Aug

Japan. Pension fund dumps ESG benchmark for passive investments

The Government Pension Investment Fund (GPIF), one of the largest managers of retirement savings in the world, has dumped the ESG index it had been using for its passive investments in previous years. In March, the fund said it has decided to change its benchmark from the MSCI Japan ESG Select Leaders Index to MSCI Nihonkabu ESG Select Leaders Index. This change means: the new benchmark excludes REIT there are 516 shares in the new benchmark compared to 239 shares in...

August 2, 2024
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July 2024
29Jul

Japanese pension funds tiptoe into moonshot tech investments

Tokyo-based Beyond Next Ventures’ latest startup fund is 56% bigger than its predecessor, thanks to growing interest from the country’s traditionally risk-averse pension funds. Of the ¥25.7 billion ($160 million) the company raised for bets on cutting-edge tech and research startups, 20% came from trustees handling annuities and other long-term investments, according to the company. It’s one of the first signs that a trickle of money from the aging economy’s $$3.3 trillion’ worth of pension assets is going into the...

July 29, 2024
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25Jul

Japan to abolish gender-specific survivor’s pension benefits, introduce fixed-term payments

The Japanese welfare ministry is set to revise the survivor's welfare pension for men and women in their 20s to 50s without children, changing it to a five-year fixed-term benefit from the current gender-specific rule where the widow receives the benefit indefinitely if she is 30 or older, while the widower cannot receive payments unless he is 55 or older. The planned adjustment will be made over several decades to ensure that current recipients won't face a disadvantage. The ministry...

July 25, 2024
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19Jul

The Impacts of Raising the Public Pension Eligibility Age on the Lifestyles of Elderly People: Evidence from Japan

By Shinya Inukai With many countries facing rapid population aging, the sustainability of public pensions has become a pressing issue. I evaluate the impacts, including both employment and time allocation, of public pension reform on the lifestyles of the elderly. In Japan, all residents aged 20 or older are covered by the public pension, with eligibility determined mechanically based on age. I focus on the reform raising men's eligibility age from 60 to 61 in 2001 and estimate its impact...

July 19, 2024
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12Jul

The Impacts of Raising the Public Pension Eligibility Age on the Lifestyles of Elderly People: Evidence from Japan

By Shinya Inukai With many countries facing rapid population aging, the sustainability of public pensions has become a pressing issue. I evaluate the impacts, including both employment and time allocation, of public pension reform on the lifestyles of the elderly. In Japan, all residents aged 20 or older are covered by the public pension, with eligibility determined mechanically based on age. I focus on the reform raising men's eligibility age from 60 to 61 in 2001 and estimate its impact...

July 12, 2024
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05Jul

Japan’s GPIF Loses Status as World’s Biggest Pension Fund

Japan’s Government Pension Investment Fund was dethroned as the world’s biggest pool of retirement savings as a depreciating yen eroded the value of its assets in dollar terms. The fund posted a record gain for the three months through March, generating a 9.5% return, but the yen’s slump to a 38-year low against the greenback was deep enough to put the value of its assets below that of Norway’s wealth fund in dollar terms.     Government Pension Investment Fund, Tokyo, posted a...

July 5, 2024
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