I have an 82-year-old grandfather, whom I address with respect. Last week, my grandfather celebrated his birthday and turned 82, surpassing the average life expectancy for men in Japan. It is well-known that Japan has the highest life expectancy in the world, and there are various factors contributing to this. Japan is a super-aging society, and one of the factors contributing to this is the well-established support and assistance systems, as well as the fact that society operates with a focus on the elderly.
I saw a study comparing the elderly support systems in the United States and Japan. There are two main principles of elderly support: familialism and liberal familialism. Both Japan and the United States fall under the latter principle, which combines support from family, the market, and national social assistance. However, the key difference between Japan and the United States is that the US leans more towards liberalism rather than familialism. For example, there is little support for home care in the US, and for elderly people who value independence, care provided by family is not considered desirable. As a result, when they can no longer live independently, they often move into nursing homes or similar facilities. These facility costs are usually paid out of their own pockets, with minimal assistance from the government.
In comparison, I realized that Japan's support system is incredibly well-developed. While having a well-developed support system is not necessarily a bad thing, I believe it is one of the factors that shape our society.
https://www8.cao.go.jp/kourei/kou-kei/29forum/pdf/tokyo-7.pdf
I think it is true that in Japan, there is this entrenched idea that families should take care of the elderly members and it feels like you would get jugded if you didn't. But because of that, i think a lot of people in Japan, especially people in their 40s and 50s are struggling looking after their parents while also being responsible for their own kids or their work. My mother is one of them and even though her mother is in a nursing home and we don't live together, she constantly visits her and tends to her because there aren't a sufficient number of staff at the nursing home and they always overlook something. My mom is worried about my grandma all the time because she is in a condition which reqires her to be in a wheelchair 24/7. And there must be many people out there that are facing this problem as well. I really think there needs to be a way to improve this situation.
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