Japan's elderly are lonely and struggling. Some women choose to go to jail
13 comments
·January 19, 2025KronisLV
This very much feels like the government could solve multiple problems at once: build facilities to care for the elderly and also decrease the overall prison population.
Of course, it’s not that it will solve the greater situation of an aging populace, but doing more about the consequences of that is probably a good idea, as much as you can!
bell-cot
How would the cost of an elder-care facility compare to the cost of an extremely low-security prison for the elderly? (Not saying that the facility they describe qualifies as such.)
If prisons serve the purpose, attract only the truly needy, and require none of the painful political discussions that setting up a huge system of eldercare facilities would require...
RandomDistort
Correct me if I am wrong, but I thought Japanese culture valued the elderly a lot more than in the west, and therefore stuff like this would be funded by the government?
helboi4
Japan has a pretty cold family culture compared to other nearby countries like China and Korea. They show respect for the eldery and the elderly have pride but they have broken down a lot of the multigenerational family dynamics that used to exist similarly to their neighbours. Showing respect when talking to elders is different to being close to them and really caring for them. There is also just such an extreme aging population that there is no way to care for all of them.
adev_
Pensions in Japan are divided in two systems: public and private. Which one you have depend of your job type.
Public pensions are extremely low (~5600$/year). They are more a "survival minimal amount" for the elderly than a real retirement pension.
There is also a phenomenon of pride among the elderlies in Japan: It is almost unthinkable for them to ask money to their children (At the opposite, doing so is pretty common in China or Korea).
Considering this context and life conditions, it is no surprise that some elderly with the lowest pensions choose to turn into crime to try to overcome their situation.
Their is a lesson the west should take here: Western countries birthrate follows the direction of Japan ones. Considering our pension schemes will become also at risk, we might encounter exactly the same situation in some decades.
smgit
They will die natural deaths much earlier and peacefully without all kinds of mental/physical decline if beyond retirement age, they just stop taking any medication.
Especially if they have no plan to do anything other than prolong their own lives for no reason.
I can understand seniors who are active and have something going on in their lives. But if you spend time around hospitals/pharmacies the number of seniors who have nothing going on other than making hospital/pharmacy visits is ridiculous. Its like they are kept alive cause docs and pharma companies can keep them alive. Not for any other reason.
SamoyedFurFluff
> But if you spend time around hospitals/pharmacies the number of seniors who have nothing going on other than making hospital/pharmacy visits is ridiculous.
Who are you to say this, genuinely? If a person wants to refuse treatment, they are able to even if it would be fatal to them. If a person feels their life is still worth living, who are you to judge that and advocate for making the choice for them? I only bristle because this is also the logic to assume people who are severely disabled are better off dead without ever consulting them (a fact constantly fought against by severely disabled advocates like Alice Wong).
tonyedgecombe
Yes, antibiotics might be cheap but the cost is enormous.
dismalaf
> Considering our pension schemes will become also at risk, we might encounter exactly the same situation in some decades.
Canada here. The maximum possible CPP (Canada Pension Plan) monthly payout is half the average rent for a 2 bedroom apartment across the country.
It's funny, 20 years ago we were talking about boomers not having saved enough for retirement and worries around that... Now real estate has inflated so much that boomers are the wealthiest cohort and most retire by selling real estate then downsizing or renting...
gedy
Informally, Asian cultures lean on family a lot more for generational support than Anglo cultures, but when you have less/no children it's pretty harsh.
bell-cot
Historically, and in theory, Japanese culture did and does value the elderly highly.
In practical reality...especially in sustained poor economic times, with the "normal" shape of the population pyramid long gone, many families fall short of that ideal.
The nice prison is funded by the government. Think of it as a social welfare program with an innovative barrier to those who do not truly need the help.
newsclues
At scale (large population) doing any job to 100% is hard, even in Japan.
> Workers help them bathe, eat, walk and take their medication.
> But this isn’t a nursing home – it’s Japan’s largest women’s prison.
Japanese prison system is quite hard on man. Compulsory work, no socialization, solitary confinement as punishment... Nobody is going to "bath you".
Of anything this just proves how privileged some groups are!