>>16905954First off, destroy democracy so my government can't be removed from power after backlash for my impending changes.
Make use of Japan's culture of intense conformity to promote both state-controlled and subsidized cults that promote large families (with the intention of essentially creating groups of ultra-Orthodox Jews) and simultaneously heavily shame adults without children.
Furthermore, reform labor laws to defeat the huge work-life balance problem in Japan and increase quality of life for people across the board. At the same time, make the lives of unmarried people without children completely miserable through both withholding social benefits and a variety of other cheeky ways to make their lives suck. On the other hand, progressively make things better and better for married adults with children, scaling with the number of children people have.
In general, it's an uphill battle because the more educated and more developed a country, the lower the fertility. The only developed country with a positive fertility rate is Israel, and that numbered is only as high it is because of Orthodox Jews and Arab Israelis inflating it. You're just going to have to play dirty. You might destroy your economy in the process and have to dismantle democracy to achieve your goals, but if you make life extremely unpleasant for people who don't have kids while simultaneously making life easier and easier for those who do, you might just be able to get above replacement rate again.
If all else fails? Government-run cloning facilities to close the gap. It'll produce countless completely sociopathic and unadjusted people, but at least your society won't vanish.
