The Robot Market
As Japan's population declines, there are fewer and fewer workers available to perform service jobs. One response is emerging from the Japanese technology sector: Robots, to fill the many jobs that be needed in the service sector, particularly caring for the elderly.
This shows how issues in one area affect others. In this context, robots are a technological response to a demographics issue, although there are of course other reasons why robots are being developed.
Taken from the opposite viewpoint, demographics presents a potentially-significant new market opportunity for robot manufacturers.
Toyota, for one, believes that service robots will be one of its most significant core businesses. For example, Japanese researchers are developing a robot that can spoon-feed the elderly, bathe them, help them carry groceries, or carry them over uneven terrain.