Abstract: Based on the demographic data of China and Japan, this paper makes an empirical study on the differences of the aging process between China and Japan, the impact of aging on the social economy of both countries and the government's response to the aging. We find that Japan's aging is about 20 years ahead of China, but the characteristics of population aging of the two countries will converge in the future. Japan's pension system, savings rate and the industrial structure are more seriously impacted by aging than those of China. China's aging problem is not yet fully exposed. In order to solve the aging problem, Japanese government adopts positive fertility policy, flexible immigration policy, delayed retirement policy, silver resource development policy and industrial adjustment policy. Compared with Japan, China social policy is relatively tardy and conservative; the intensity and effectiveness of policy implementation is not obvious at present, so Chinese government should take more active population policy, family policy, industrial policy and labor market policy to defeat potential aging threat.

Key words: aging, population structure, social problems, countermeasures