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Feb 04 2019 4 Comments

A children’s playground in ageing Japan

Outside Japan’s main cities and popular tourist destinations, the country’s well documented low birth rate and rapidly ageing population are there for all to see. In Tokyo, on the other hand, these changes are often only recognisable in one or two older areas, and even then it can depend on the time, or indeed the day of the week.

When they are noticeable, however, it’s sometimes possible to encounter these societal shifts in a single scene. A moment that is suggestive of the past, but very likely says a lot more about the future.

elderly Japanese women in a children's playground in Tokyo

Categorized: Photography

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Dean says

    2/4/2019 at 10:48 am

    The local swingers!

    Reply
    • Lee says

      2/4/2019 at 8:56 pm

      Haha, of sorts!

      Reply
  2. cdilla says

    2/4/2019 at 4:50 pm

    I was reading this weekend that one in five convictions are of people aged 65 and over in Japan! And much of that is because they want somewhere free to live. one 70 year old they spoke with, of slender build and a tendency to giggle, took a bike and rode it to the local police station. He got a year for that. Next he took a knife and waved it about in a park until someone called the police. Three years for that. As his pension is still paid, he gets food and shelter and saves at the same time. A pretty unique Japanese situation.
    Hopefully these lovely ladies never find themselves considering such an option.

    Reply
    • Lee says

      2/4/2019 at 9:03 pm

      Yeah, been reading about that myself. There are issues with the elderly shoplifting too. Of all the problems related to Japan’s ageing population, crime and an increase in prisoners probably wasn’t on most assessments…

      Hopefully. They certainly did seem happy with their lot. Although perhaps that was because they were all set after a particularly profitable raid of the local convenience store!

      Reply

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