Horioka et al . (2007) is a well-researched paper focusing on the impact of aging on Japan’s net household savings rate, and on the possible impact of Japan’s public pension system on the household savings rate. The first part of the paper notes that Japan’s net household savings rate was high especially during the 1960s and 1970s, but has been quite low in recent years. Japan’s household net savings will fall to zero or become negative between 2010 and 2024 depending on the estimate chosen. This is indeed a wide range requiring some explanation. In figure 1, it would have been useful to explicitly indicate the denominator of household savings. Trends in relative share of household savings in total national savings should have been indicated. The paper asserts that both corporate and government savings have been increasing in recent years (footnote 3), but does not provide data or future trends. It is on this basis that the paper optimistically argues that no policy measures are necessary to reverse the declining trend in household savings due to aging. The analysis of the aging and net household savings is based on life-cycle hypothesis, which suggests that as the ratio of elderly people to working population increases, household savings will decline as elderly people draw down their stock of savings for consumption. The paper assumes without explanation that other factors, such as income, wealth, and a high share of the variable component in wages in Japan, which may affect household savings behavior, will remain constant. This and the mechanical use of the life-cycle hypothesis have resulted in insufficient attention to the following aspects. First, the importance of bequest motive in the Japanese context should have been briefly discussed. The currently aged may alter their savings behavior to help cushion the burden on today’s younger generation financing them. Second, 7 million people born between 1947 and 1949 are set to retire between 2007 and 2009. They will receive 50 trillion yen (US$420 billion) in lump-sum retirement payments ( The Financial Times , April 12, 2007). The corporate retirement age is 60 years, but the state pension age is 65. A discussion of the expected behavior of these retirees concerning their postretirement labor-force participation, and division of lump-sum retirement payments into consumption and savings would have been useful. Greater labor market flexibility could help mitigate the negative impact of aging on the labor supply. Third, the authors are perhaps too pessimistic about increasing Japan’s economic growth rate. Globalization and internationalization have opened up opportunities for