Perhaps the darker side that could be missed is that despite their demographic problem, Japan continues to refuse to let in more young foreigners in to help balance the demographics.
If they viewed people as just interchangeable culturally, why even care about their falling demographics? Other Asian and Africans countries make up for them.
Because they need young, employed people locally to provide services to all the retirees.
Do you have a degree in some engineering and speak Japanese? You can get your visa in about 2 months. Actually, if you are a programmer you may not even need Japanese.