Free Republic

TOKYO (AFP) - As Japan produces fewer children and more retirees, toymakers are designing new dolls designed not for the young but for the lonely elderly -- companions which can sleep next to them and offer caring words they may never hear otherwise. Talking toys have become such a hit that some elderly people have embraced them as substitutes for the children who have grown old and deserted entire neighborhoods in the rapidly greying country. The Yumel doll, which looks like a baby boy and has a vocabulary of 1,200 phrases, is billed as a "healing partner" for the elderly...

Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen believes that the problems facing Finland and its ageing population cannot be solved simply by raising the employment rate and making changes to the pension system. Finland should also attempt to raise its birth rate. In other words, the country needs more children. The 47-year-old Prime Minister has two school-age children. Vanhanen's population policy would also include an increase in immigration. "I am quite certain that in 20-30 years, we will be more multicultural than today", Vanhanen observed in a radio interview on Sunday. According to the Prime Minister, his government faces a double challenge. The...