Teach Your Children

Oh Japan - what the heck is going on? In 2010, it has recently come to light that one of the country's oldest residents - a 113-year-old woman, is missing - no one knows where she is, if she's alive or dead. This shocking bit of information comes days after officials found Tokyo's oldest man - who was supposed to be 111 years of age - dead and mummified. In fact, he had been dead and mummified some 32 years ago. That's pretty creepy.

The family of that poor man is being investigated for pretending the old man was alive to collect pension cheques.

Read about both of those stories HERE.

This isn't a knock against government officials, rather it's a knock against the families of these people. Get a rife, people.

Japan has one of the largest - if not largest - population of centenarians (people 100 years of age and older) in the world, with a list of some 40,399 people. (I'm not doing any more research than is absolutely necessary here).

One of the most enduring aspects of Japan and its way of life is that the population looks after its elderly, not by placing them in a Home as we do everywhere else, but rather taking them into their own home.

In Japanese society, the oldest son is supposed to look after his parents when they get old, having them move into his place. If no son is present, the man the daughter marries will take on the in-laws.

While I can see it being a burden - what with more and more people hitting such great ages - it is still a time worn tradition.

For crying out loud - my job as an AET was not so much as to teach my students how to speak English, but rather to internationalize them - teach them that there are other ways of doing things rather than the staid old Japanese way. But did you all have to pick up all of our bad habits?!

Obviously it's not everyone in Japan doing this - all of the folks I knew and know in Ohtawara treated the elderly with respect and love.

Somewhere missing my grandfather - my last remaining grandparent - who died while I was in Japan in 1992.
Andrew Joseph

Today's title is by: Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
You can listen to it HERE sans Neil Young.

PS: Photo above is of a 250-year-old netsuke--an ivory carving--of a koma-inu (a Korean lion dog) that are symbolic guardians and protectors of Japanese temples and shrines.
PPS: Photo below is my grandfather, Thomas D'Souza. I had sent him that Netsuke lion dog to protect him until I got back from Japan - telling him to keep it by his bedroom door. I know there's no correlation, but he didn't do that and gave it to my mom to place in a curio cabinet. He was gone before I made it home. But at least he died in at our house, his home.