At age 39, Yoshiaki Suda, the new mayor of this town that was destroyed by last March's tsunami, oversees a community where the votes and influence lie among its large population of graying residents.
But for Onagawa to have a future, he must rebuild it in such a way as to make it attractive to his and future generations.
"That's the most difficult problem," Suda said. "For whom are we rebuilding?"
The rebuilding of Onagawa and the rest of the coast where the tsunami hit is a preview of what may be the most critical test Japan faces in the decades ahead. In a country where power rests disproportionately among older people, how does Japan, which has the world's most rapidly aging population, use its resources to build a society that looks to the future as much as the past? (Jakarta Globe)