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Elderly Urged to Open Their Homes to
Waseda Student Boarders
Asahi Shimbun
Japan
March 17, 2005
Aiming to revitalize connections between young and old while helping students save money, a plan has been hatched near Waseda University in Tokyo to urge elderly couples to open their homes to student boarders.
In the past, the geshukuya system (boarding for students) was common in university neighborhoods.
Near Waseda, it helped create a lively atmosphere where out-of-town students found a warmer welcome in the community.
Nowadays, rooms for boarders have all but disappeared.
Students in the area often live alone in cramped apartments, scarcely forming ties to the local community.
And Waseda's homeowning residents are aging, widening the gap between young and old.
The "cross-generation" boarder plan is the brainchild of two people-Marimo Shimamura, 28, a nursing home employee in Nakano Ward, and office worker Jun Ishikawa, 26, of Toshima Ward.
Shimamura said she got the idea while volunteering with a group that aimed to revive Japanese traditional culture.
Crucial to handing down traditions, Shimamura learned, is for elderly people to interact with the younger generation and to deepen their relationships.
She mentioned the old-fashioned approach to Junichiro Yasui, who heads Waseda's shopping district association.
Yasui thought Waseda was an ideal place to try to revive the system. The 55-year-old Yasui recalled that when he was a child, many students boarded with local residents.
Students developed warm relationships with their older landlords, socializing and even going to baseball games together.
``These days, such friendships are rare,'' Yasui said. ``But if more students were living in people's homes, we could regain that invigorating ambience.''
A Waseda University official likes the idea.
``We've been thinking that our students should develop much closer ties with the community,'' the official said.
Homes around Waseda University will be accepting student boarders as soon as
organizers can recruit at least 10 homeowners to join the project.
The plan's organizers say many elderly couples in the area have rooms to spare now that their own children have grown up and moved out.
Under the plan, those extra rooms will be rented to students at a monthly rate of 30,000 yen to 50,000 yen. Meals won't be included. Instead, the boarder will have access to the kitchen facilities.
Students can live much more cheaply under the plan, as most apartments close to the university start at about 70,000 yen a month.
Volunteers will act as liaisons between the residents and students, evaluating whether they seem likely to be able to get along.
If all appears to fit, the liaison staff will prepare a contract outlining the basic rules and requirements for both parties.
The staff will meet with the homeowners and boarders once a month to keep an eye out for problems.
Shimamura and Ishikawa, with the support of the Waseda shopping district association, are now recruiting residents willing to open their homes to student renters.
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