From the Washington Post:

TOKYO — With a surfeit of the old and a shortage of the young, Japan is on course for a population collapse unlike any in human history.

What ails this prosperous nation could be treated with babies and immigrants. Yet many young women here do not want children, and the Japanese will not tolerate a lot of immigrants. So government and industry are marching into the depopulated future with the help of robots — some with wheels, some with legs, some that you can wear like an overcoat with muscles.

See: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2008/01/06/ST2008010602053.html?hpid=artslot