First order of business is a link to a website which has a more comprehensive explanation of my current situation and how it has come to be:

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20071226a1.html

This should answer questions people may have and if there are any further questions feel free to ask me in a comment and I'll respond in kind.

Secondly Japan's population fell 16,000 people in 2007 and this is a huge concern for the current administration and indeed for all of Japan. Due to Japan's extremely strict immigration controls, the government's general xenophobic outlook, and the graying of the population Japan is facing an economic crisis in the years to come. A swiftly decreasing working population is having to support an exponentially growing pension system which has already struggled this past year due to misplacement of billions of yen due to the loss of records. Surprisingly enough Japan has one of the world's oldest populations and coupled with the fact that young Japanese are increasingly putting off having a family in order to focus on careers makes for a very dangerous future for Japan.

The thing that I find difficult to understand is that as far as I am aware, and I stay very up to date on current Japanese news, is that the government has done very little to deal with this problem beyond issuing empty statements. One of Japan's powerful ministers, possibly of the interior, said last year that women needed to realize they should be baby making machines in order to save Japan. This hardly seems like a viable plan to revitalize their population as Japanese women are getting married later and later in order to focus on their now promising careers.

Since coming here I have developed a love for this country, culture and people and I can only hope that the bureaucratic red tape that hinders their government will not stop them from finding a viable solution. Gambatte Japan!