So what does that mean? Why is it called that?

The Ice Age generation are people in Japan who graduated college and entered the workforce roughly between 1993 to 2004.

These people are now in their 40s or 50s, so I guess the English equivalent would be the Generation X or Gen X.

The Ice Age generation's experience is shaped by the burst of Japan's economic bubble in the early 1990s, and a lot of them, having entered the workforce at a time of economic downturn, struggle with precarious, insecure work, and also low pay.

And in fact, their struggles are quite familiar to a lot of Japanese people, so the woes of the Ice Age generation is something that gets discussed a lot in politics and in the news, and their economic hardship is also associated with a lot of social problems that Japan has.

For instance, like hikikomori, or social recluses.

Japan's recent economic changes are adding a new twist to their story.

So then, what did they all do? Where did they all go?

So what is the debate actually on? Who's having the debate?

I think people associate street prostitution as something that happens in, like, poor countries.

So online, there were a lot of people commenting on these pictures of women on Okubo Park saying, "I can't believe this is happening in Japan," or, "This feels like something that would happen in a developing country." And I think this is linked to anxieties about the economy in the country.

And also, people have noticed that a lot of the customers walking around Okubo Park are foreigners.

So the weak yen has been luring a lot of tourists to the country.

There's also been a rise in sex tourism linked to that.

I saw a video of Kamiya Sohei, who's the leader of the right-wing Sanseito Party, saying, "This is truly lamentable." And I think behind this there's a sense of wounded pride.

What are they actually considering? What are their options?

So why is this happening, though? Why is that disproportionate number of women leaving?

So I asked that question to Koyasu, and she cited some economic challenges.

So first of all, Japan does have a very big gender pay gap, but this gender pay gap is much larger in rural areas, and also a lot of rural areas simply don't have enough appealing jobs for women.

But there's also a deep cultural problem as well.

So Japan in general is a very patriarchal country.

We rank very low in gender gap indexes, but these patriarchal norms are especially strong in rural areas.

So for instance, if you go to local towns and if you go to local companies, you still see women being forced to serve the tea while men are making the decisions, and these things still do happen in the city, but they're seen as outdated.

They're working.

So why is this happening, though? Why is that disproportionate number of women leaving?

So I asked that question to Koyasu, and she cited some economic challenges.

So first of all, Japan does have a very big gender pay gap, but this gender pay gap is much larger in rural areas, and also a lot of rural areas simply don't have enough appealing jobs for women.

But there's also a deep cultural problem as well.

So Japan in general is a very patriarchal country.

We rank very low in gender gap indexes, but these patriarchal norms are especially strong in rural areas.

So for instance, if you go to local towns and if you go to local companies, you still see women being forced to serve the tea while men are making the decisions, and these things still do happen in the city, but they're seen as outdated.

They're working.