white-collar women.

The change in policy comes as China grapples with an economic slowdown that has triggered alarms across the world and is reminiscent Japan's stagnation after its post-war economic miracle. However, Japan's negative population growth and rapidly aging population made it harder for that country to recover from its stagnation in the 1990s.

Japan's population grew at about one percent from the 1960s through the 1970s, but has declined sharply since then.

In 2005, Japan's population declined for the first time since World War II, according to Japan's Statistics Bureau. The 2010 census showed that 56.3 percent of the households were nuclear-families and 32.4 percent were one-person households.

"Aging and population decrease may reduce the productivity progress," said Hisakazu Kato, an economics professor at Meiji University in Tokyo. "In addition, anjob security, he said, work long hours and face high housing prices. Also, the traditional view still persists that married women should stay home and take care of their children

In Washington, John Seager, president of Population Connection, formerly known as Zero Population Growth, said allowing more immigration was a simple solution for Japan. "They can simply put up a help wanted sign in the direction of the Asian continent. And they would have absolutely no trouble attracting all the workers they could possibly want."

In the past, the Japanese have not put out the welcome mat for immigrants. However, survey shows support for immigration is growing. However, immigration is not much welcomed in the homogeneous nation. A survey by a national Japanese newspaper Asahi Shimbun, in April showed that