audio, stills, text and or video: Go to zReportage.com to see more - For years they would go out drinking with colleagues and clients, returning home drunk at 2am before rising at dawn to head back to the office. That is how the 'salaryman' became the corner stone of modern Japan, the white-collar worker who helped create the world's second-largest economy after WWII. But the 'Salaryman' a term coined in the 1920's, is now becoming a figure of the past, due to a generational shift. This fact has huge implications in a country in which the company is the dominant institution in people's lives, and affects Japanese society as a whole. The salaryman system has buckled under the strains on the Japanese economy. Government figures in 2014 revealed that Japan's population shrank for the third year running, with the elderly comprising 25% of the total for the first time. The proportion of people aged 65 or over is predicted to reach nearly 40% of the population in 2060, the government has warned. Having lost over half a million people in the past two years and with projections of at least a 50 percent decline in the population through the end of this century, Japan sits at the leading edge of population change beginning in other parts of East Asia as well as Europe.
© David Tesinsky/zReportage.com/ZUMA Press
April 27, 2012 - Tokyo, Japan - A drunk businessman sleeps on the streets in Shibuya square.
© David Tesinsky/zReportage.com/ZUMA Press
April 27, 2012 - Tokyo, Japan - Businessmen have fun and enjoy drinks after working hours.
© David Tesinsky/zReportage.com/ZUMA Press
April 27, 2012 - Tokyo, Japan - Drunk businessmen sleep in McDonald's at 5am after drinking.
© David Tesinsky/zReportage.com/ZUMA Press
May 7, 2012 - Tokyo, Japan - Three women joke around and make fun of running as a part of a campaign while businessmen are running to their jobs.
© David Tesinsky/zReportage.com/ZUMA Press
April 20, 2012 - Tokyo, Japan - Portrait of a businessman in the Shinjuku area in Tokyo at midnight.
© David Tesinsky/zReportage.com/ZUMA Press
April 20, 2012 - Tokyo, Japan - Portrait of a businessman in the crowd of people.
© David Tesinsky/zReportage.com/ZUMA Press
April 23, 2012 - Tokyo, Japan - Business people ride their bikes in the streets.
© David Tesinsky/zReportage.com/ZUMA Press
April 20, 2012 - Tokyo, Japan - A sleeping businessman rests in Tokyo's subway.
© David Tesinsky/zReportage.com/ZUMA Press
April 24, 2012 - Tokyo, Japan - View of the main cross road from the Shibuya subway station.
© David Tesinsky/zReportage.com/ZUMA Press
April 27, 2012 - Tokyo, Japan - Businessman walks in the area with many Izakayas (local pub) after working hours during the rain.
© David Tesinsky/zReportage.com/ZUMA Press
April 20, 2012 - Tokyo, Japan - A drunk businessman sleeps on the streets in Shibuya square.
© David Tesinsky/zReportage.com/ZUMA Press
April 23, 2012 - Tokyo, Japan - A crowd of people in a subway in Tokyo.
© David Tesinsky/zReportage.com/ZUMA Press
April 20, 2012 - Tokyo, Japan - A drunk businessman sleeps while he's staying in Tokyo's subway and a man buys a subway ticket next to him.
© David Tesinsky/zReportage.com/ZUMA Press
April 20, 2012 - Tokyo, Japan - Two young businessmen have fun while a crowd of people pass by.
© David Tesinsky/zReportage.com/ZUMA Press
April 27, 2012 - Tokyo, Japan - The crowded streets of Shinjuku.
© David Tesinsky/zReportage.com/ZUMA Press
April 20, 2012 - Tokyo, Japan - Tokyo, Japan - A drunk businessman sleeps in Tokyo's subway. Many forget to get on the last train around midnight so they have to wait until the morning.
© David Tesinsky/zReportage.com/ZUMA Press/ZUMAPRESS.com
April 27, 2012 - Tokyo, Japan - Drunk businessmen get into trouble with the police.
© David Tesinsky/zReportage.com/ZUMA Press
April 20, 2012 - Tokyo, Japan - Drunk businessmen walk around Shinjuku area after midnight.
© David Tesinsky/zReportage.com/ZUMA Press
May 10, 2012 - Tokyo, Japan - A businessman makes time for fun and relaxes after working hours in the local slot machine casino.
© David Tesinsky/zReportage.com/ZUMA Press
April 19, 2012 - Tokyo, Japan - A street mirror reflects businessmen walking during lunch time.
© David Tesinsky/zReportage.com/ZUMA Press
April 27, 2012 - Tokyo, Japan - A drunk businessman sleeps on the streets in Shibuya square.
© David Tesinsky/zReportage.com/ZUMA Press
