From the linked article in the OP: "An official at the Health Ministry's statistics bureau said Friday's survey does not change Japan's status as a fast-aging

From the linked article in the OP: "An official at the Health Ministry's statistics bureau said Friday's survey does not change Japan's status as a fast-aging nation because life expectancy calculations are not based on family registration records." Move on, nothing to see here. 20/~100 of the verified oldest people were japanese according to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_the_verified_oldest_people http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_the_verified_oldest_peo... That's a handsome statistic right there.