Japan at the Forefront of Global Demographic Challenges

Marshall University’s Department of Modern Languages and Japanese Outreach Program will welcome Kenju Murakami, Deputy Consul General Director of the Japan Information Center of the Consulate General of Japan in New York, on Tuesday, April 19. The lecture and panel discussion will begin at 4 p.m. in Drinko Library room 402 on Marshall’s Huntington campus.

The discussion, titled “Japan at the Forefront of Global Demographic Challenges,” will examine Japan’s increasing life expectancy and the good and bad demographic challenges it’s creating in Japan and around the world. Murakami and the subsequent panel discussion will focus on a number of topics including:

How is Japan trying to tap the potential of female workers?
Will Japan open its labor market to foreign workers?
And the latest news on Japan-U.S. relations.

Dr. Natsuki Anderson is the panel organizer and the chair of the Department of Modern Languages in the College of Liberal Arts. She says to be able to bring Murakami to campus is exciting.

“When it comes to Japanese studies, Marshall is a state leader,” Anderson said. “I am thrilled to have a Japanese guest speaker from New York on Marshall’s campus again. Director Murakami gave two virtual presentations on the Japanese government and the Japan Exchange Teaching (JET) Program for MU students last year during the COVID-19 pandemic. I look forward to introducing Marshall students to him in person. The panel discussion will be exciting, since all the Japanese faculty members from the Department of Modern Languages will be discussing the current issues of Japan’s demographic change. Please join us and take advantage of this opportunity to be able to ask intriguing questions.”

Marshall leadership will also accompany Murakami on his visits to the West Virginia Department of Economic Development and Toyota West Virginia prior to visiting the Huntington campus.

Anderson, along with Dr. Zelideth Rivas, a professor of Japanese, and Ryan Lidster, a Japanese instructor at Marshall, will also be part of the discussion. The program will start at 4 p.m. with Murakami’s presentation and continue at 4:30 p.m. with the panel discussion and Q&A. For more information, contact Anderson by e-mail at andersonn@marshall.edu.