Alone in Japan: A Journey to the Future

No sex. No kids. No future?

When Tom Feiling first moved to Tokyo as a student in the early 1990s, Japan seemed to embody the future: a rising superpower, a technology powerhouse, and a global symbol of prosperity, civility, and success. When he returned twenty-four years later, the country still felt like a glimpse of what lay ahead. But this time, he realized, it was not a beacon. It was a warning.

This book offers a striking portrait of contemporary Japan, from remote rural villages to the restless energy of its megacities. Beginning in the mid-1970s, Feiling traces how Japanese society quietly embarked on a profound transformation that continues today. The country remains peaceful and prosperous, yet its population is shrinking at an unprecedented rate. As it stands, each new generation is projected to be a third smaller than the one before.

Traveling through shrines and bars, rice fields and mango farms, coffee shops and nursing homes, Feiling meets the people living through this shift, and those shaping it. Drawing on extensive research and in-depth interviews, he explores why fewer men and women are forming relationships, why birth rates continue to fall, and what this means for the future of Japan―and for other nations that may be following the same path.