Japan’s cities are being remade for an ageing population

Toyama nestles between a deep blue bay and snow-topped peaks, some 250km northwest of Tokyo. In many ways, it is a quintessential regional Japanese city: its residents are greying, its industry is stable but sclerotic, its cuisine is exquisite. American firebombs targeting its steel mills wiped out 99% of Toyama’s centre during the second world war. Afterwards, the city was rapidly rebuilt and sprawled as its population grew. But that was then. Since the 1990s the city of 414,000 (and falling) has been battling the ills of an ageing population: ballooning bills, falling tax revenues and an out-of-date urban plan.