"super aging" in Japan and lessons for your country?

[everything]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aging_of_Japan#Effects


https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7731274/

What do you make of this? It's difficult to notice demographic changes, but the trends in Japan are similar to what will happen in other developed countries.

There are special nursing homes in Japan that offer service and assistance to more than 30 residents. In 2008, it was recorded that there were approximately 6,000 special nursing homes available that cared for 420,000 Japanese elders.[49] With many nursing homes in Japan, the demand for more caregivers is high. In Japan, family caregivers are preferred as the main caregiver because it is a better support system if an elderly person is related to his/her caregiver. Therefore, it is possible that Japanese elderly people can perform activities of daily living (ADLs) with little assistance and live longer if his/her caregiver is a family caregiver.[49]

Many elderly people live alone and isolated, and every year thousands of deaths go unnoticed for days or even weeks, in a modern phenomenon known as kodoku-shi (孤独死, "solitary death").[50]

The increasing proportion of elderly people has a major impact on government spending and policies. As recently as the early-1970s, the cost of public pensions, health care, and welfare services for the aged amounted to only about 6% of Japan's national income. In 1992 that portion of the national budget was 18%, and it is expected that by 2025 28% of national income will be spent on social welfare.[57] Because the incidence of chronic disease increases with age, the health care and pension systems are expected to come under severe strain. In the mid-1980s, the government began to re-evaluate the relative burdens of government and the private sector in health care and pensions, and it established policies to control government costs in these programs.

The large share of elderly inflation-averse voters may also hinder the political attractiveness of pursuing higher inflation, consistent with the evidence that aging may lead to lower inflation. With the increasing older population and decreasing young population, 38% percent of the population will be people aged 65 and older by 2065. This concludes that Japan has the highest amount of public debt in the world because of the low fertility rates and aging population.[58] Japan's government has spent almost half of its tax revenue trying to recover from their debt. According to IMF, Japan has a 246.14 debt percentage of GDP, making it the highest public debt

The decline in working-aged cohorts may lead to a shrinking economy if productivity does not increase faster than the rate of Japan's decreasing workforce.

[yeniseri]

It wil be impossible for USA to "mimic" the lifestyle of Japan because of many assumptions are out of place and is not reflective in, and of US society.

US Americans have become unable to walk even a mile and back to go shopping for food since its ready made status of social upwardness and 'impressing the Joneses" fast forwarded by current social media flashes of importance and significance.
The concept of 'forest walking" was born in Japan because of the natural importance of nature and man in this current stage of maturation whereas the natural concept of Twitter and Meta (formerly Facebook, etc) are unique to US society and never the twain shall meet. Though I spent more time in Okinawa (island) instead of Japan (mainland), I never saw a supermarket! What I did see was people eating alot of fish, getting food from agriculture and the older people often walking to wherever they went. Public transportation waa a main way to get from point A to B.

Some elements are there but the social behaviours necessary for habit changes are just not present in US society! Keep in mind that despite beign high on the list for some level of medical intervention, USA's infant mortality rate shows a real exclusion displayed in its true state a reflection of future generations on who is being treated within the social milieu and how they will fare into the milenium and it ain't good.
Of course, there will be small groups that will benefit because they are "WOKED" to an extent but this woke context is being seen as a threat to the status quo and is even considered dangerous under some recently passed laws.

[Dmitri]

Incidentally, yesterday I started watching 'Norsemen' (a pretty funny and weird show) and it almost immediately made me look up the word "ättestup(a)" and, subsequently, the word senicide

I've been thinking about that idea/concept a lot lately (coincidentally) and it really makes a lot of sense to me, especially as I get closer to the "elderly" range. I really wish it were more widely accepted in modern societies, and legal. What that Indian lady said about their related local custom fully resonates with how I feel about it: ""What else can they do if they see their parents suffering? At least they are offering their parents a peaceful death. It is an act of dignity because living like a piece of log for years is disrespectful for the elderly themselves, more than it is for us. The elderly chooses to be offered [the ritual of senicide], too."

[windwalker]

There is no evidence to support claims that the elderly were sent to sea on an ice-float, and this seems unlikely, as it would have been logistically difficult. When senilicide was practiced, it is more likely they were thrown into the sea, locked outside to face the cold, buried alive, or starved to death. More often than active senilicide, a practice of passive manslaughter was used.

The elderly person would have been taken to the wilderness and abandoned, or the whole village might pick up and move while during the night as they slept. This allowed the abandoned person to either find their way back to their group, thus proving their continued productivity, they were unable to return, or pass away reliving the village of their burden.

Far more common though than senilicide and abandonment, was assisted suicide.

During times of famine, an elderly or infirmed member of the group might ask a family member to kill them, as death by unassisted suicide was believed to lead to a less pleasant afterlife than death by homicide, even when voluntary.
In the Eskimo culture, the person asked to assist was bound to comply with such requests, without expressing any misgivings.

https://ageingalone.wordpress.com/2017/ ... raditions/

all of us age and get old....Watching one's parents age, along with whatever unfortunate effects of aging happen...
A personal trial for some,,,

Wife worked in some of the senior living centers set up for American Chinese, and in Taiwan although its a little different.
very sad at times,,,,as for some of them, it wasn't a choice, to far gone to really understand whats going on.

Hopefully, when it comes to one's own time, it remains a choice....

[everything]

at the individual level, hope we are all lucky, and obviously everyone in this group presumably does way more exercise than 99% of the population. but we still have to get good food, water, air, sleep etc., and then still be very lucky.

but the other 99% of folks haven't really self-selected / been able to get the most healthy lifestyles. it becomes a societal issue everywhere the birth rate is low, immigration is low, and lifespans and healthspans are increasing.

some of the labor shortage despite talk of recession here in the usa seems to be due to the fast growing retired population (boomers and older). if they aren't working, they are still having a lot of consumer demand for not just health services, but lots of ordinary things. we aren't really "producing" or importing enough health workers and every other worker. just wondering what everyone thinks of all this, and what may be happening in other countries. afraid I don't know much more than what I typed above.