Japan's plan to boost its birthrate raises doubt. But one city has reason for hope

Taiki and Arisa Chisaka watch as their son Tatara plays at a city-run child care center in western Japan's Akashi city. (Anthony Kuhn/NPR)

AKASHI, Japan — Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has promised "new dimension" measures to address an existential crisis: his country's plunging birthrate.

Fewer than 800,000 babies were born in Japan last year, the lowest figure since Japan began tallying births in 1899 and the seventh year of declines in a row, according to government data.