Reuters is furtively trying to tell us something.
According to Japan's Yomiuri Shimbun, the country's historically sluggish postwar birthrate has dropped even further. Now, while that may deflect histrionics from overpopulation alarmists it's done nothing to ease concerns of public policymakers:
The ongoing decline in the birthrate could mean future labor shortages as well as difficulties in funding state pensions. The ministry said the current public pension system, under which younger workers support pensioners, is unsustainable and the government may be forced to reduce pension benefits or increase premiums.
How did Reuters choose to illustrate the story? — with a lion leaning in on a watchful toddler. There's the slightest intimation that births are steady but monster-gobbling is up. A second Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry study, perhaps?
