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Moving beyond respect for the Aged

The Yomiuri Shimbun Daily, September 15, 2000

On Sept. 15, 1947, Nomatanimura--present-day Yachiyocho--a village nestling in the hills of central Hyogo Prefecture, mobilized all motorized tricycles in the area to carry local elderly people to a school hall.

Masao Kadowaki, the 35-year-old head of the village government, said to the senior citizens assembled in the hall, "An elderly person is a treasure for every household and also for our village."

Bowing his head, he went on, "Please share with me, a young village head, some of your wisdom."

From the following year on, Nomatanimura designated Sept. 15 a village holiday to honor the elderly, holding events to pay respect to senior citizens in the village.

The gesture later spread over the entire prefecture. In 1966, the central government established Respect-for-the-Aged Day as a new national holiday, 19 years to the day after the village in Hyogo mobilized all its tricycles for local senior citizens.

Kadowaki was apparently worried about dissoluteness among the Japanese people in the immediate aftermath of World War II, and particularly about the breakdown of the long-standing family system in Japan.

In retrospect, postwar society can be said to have gone through an era in which people solely pursued speed and efficiency.

Rapid changes in the industrial structure and the sweeping trend of urbanization have loosened the bonds among people in rural communities, neighborhoods and families.

In addition, technological innovations have resulted in a tendency often to regard the decades-long experience and wisdom of the elderly as old-fashioned.

It appears that this tendency has made people believe that old age is worthless and a burden on society, which makes the elderly feel insignificant.

Are 60-year-olds really old?

"The boatman in our village is an old man who turned 60 this year. For his age, he is full of vigor as he rows his boat, making the oar bend." So ran the words of a children's song called "Sendo-san" (Mr. Boatman)," written in 1941.

The old boatman in the song would likely have been in his 60th calendar year as age was calculated in that way at the time. If so, he would be 58 or 59 if his age is calculated in the way that is common today.

Many 58- or 59-year-olds today would not be pleased at being called old men.

In Nomatanimura, those who were eligible to participate in the events to respect the elderly were 60 or older.

The way in which age and the elderly are perceived has changed markedly in the past five decades.

The Management and Coordination Agency conducts surveys asking at what age a person could be considered old.

In the latest survey, half of the respondents in their 60s or older said 70 or older, followed by those who answered 65 or older, and those who said 75 or older. Those who gave the answer 60 or older accounted for only 3.4 percent of the respondents in that age group.

Respondents aged 40 to 59 gave similar answers. The number of respondents who say that people aged 75 or older, or 80 or older, can be considered elderly increases with each survey the agency conducts.

In the year that Respect-for-the-Aged Day was established, there were about 6 million people aged 65 or older in this country, or about 6 percent of the total population.

There are now 22 million such people, and they account for 17 percent of the total.

It is estimated that in 2015 there will be 30 million such people, creating a society in which one person in every four is 65 or older.

In such a society, it will not be possible simply to respect the elderly because of their age. Senior citizens will have to continue to be a driving force in society.

But the changes are not being seen only in terms of numbers. There have also been marked changes in terms of senior citizens' health.

According to a study by the Tokyo metropolitan government's research institute for the aged, senior citizens' vital functions have improved markedly in the past 10 years.

Vital functions include the ability to cope with everyday tasks, such as going out of the house alone and making withdrawals or deposits at banks or post offices without assistance.

Vital functions also refer to intellectual ability, such as reading books or newspapers regularly, as well as social skills such as visiting friends. Together, they form the yardstick by which a person's overall abilities can be judged.

In comparison with senior citizens in other countries, Japanese elderly people score highly when it comes to vital functions.

The number of elderly people in Japan who have difficulty with everyday tasks is less than a quarter of the figure for their U.S. counterparts, irrespective of gender.

Takao Suzuki, deputy director of the metropolitan government's research institute, said, "From the viewpoint of science, the elderly have become 10 years younger than they were decades ago." Elderly people in this country should be more confident of their abilities.

Ninety percent of elderly people live in their own homes, if we continue to use the definition of elderly as being those aged 65 or over. Moreover, most of those aged 65 to 74, who are categorized as being in the "early phase of old age," are in excellent health.

Witnessing society aging too rapidly may have focused our attention on the negative aspects of old age and made us too pessimistic.

A U.S. film called "Space Cowboy" will soon be shown in movie theaters in this country.

The movie features four former pilots who tried unsuccessfully to become the world's first astronauts in the late 1950s. In the movie, the four eventually travel into space, realizing the dream they abandoned 40 years earlier.

All the four are, of course, men aged about 70. Three are played by actors of about that age.

Aged need chance to do more

The movie featured elderly heroes, and they were played by elderly actors. This kind of thing will come as no surprise when the anticipated aged society becomes a reality.

If this is the case, why are there few openings for senior citizens to play an active role in this country despite its large population of healthy old people?

Respecting the elderly and celebrating their longevity is a good thing. But there are many senior citizens who want another chance to be a hero or heroine.

Elderly people's will to work is quite strong in Japan compared to other countries.

Ninety percent of companies, however, have a uniform retirement-age system under which elderly employees must retire irrespective of their ability or will to work. It is to be hoped that these age barriers are reviewed.