Respect for the Aged Day

April Dykes
9月15日
読了時間: 9分

While Japan may not have a designated day for grandparents like America, there is a holiday that celebrates all elders, even those who don’t have children. That holiday is called Respect for the Aged Day. As a part of the Happy Monday system, it is currently celebrated on the third Monday of September. Its 2025 date of September 15th aligns perfectly with its 1947 predecessor. Today, as we celebrate Respect for the Aged Day, let’s delve into its history and the issues Japan’s elderly population faces today.

Origins of Respect for the Aged Day

According to Rakuten, there is more than one theory on the origin of Respect for the Aged Day. One theory suggests that it was created to commemorate the day Prince Shotoku created Hiden-in, a welfare institution for the poor and elderly in Osaka in 593. Another theory is that it was established to commemorate Empress Gensho’s visit to Yōrō Falls, where she was inspired to change the name of the era from Reiki to Yōrō. Yōrō means to make provision for one’s old age or to spend one’s old age in comfort. While it's unclear which theory truly inspired a day of reverence for the elderly, we know that the current Respect for the Aged Day was inspired by 1947’s ‘Elderly Day’, also known as ‘Old Folks Day’.

Elderly Day’s proposal was made by Mayor Masao Kadowaki of Nomaya Village (now Taka Town), Hyogo Prefecture, in 1947. “At the time, the village aimed to 'cherish the elderly and use their wisdom to build the village.' In 1947, the village designated the 15th of September, a day during the agricultural off-season and with pleasant weather, as "Elderly Day," and began holding a Respect for the Aged Day event” (Rakuten).

This tradition spread throughout Hyogo prefecture and was known nationwide by 1954. It became an official holiday in 1966, and after much debate, the day became known as ‘Respect for the Aged Day’, with its celebration taking place on September 15th. This continued until the Happy Monday System was introduced in 2001. This bill changed the set date to the third Monday of September, rather than September 15th.

Ways to celebrate Respect for the Aged Day

Like Grandparents Day, you can celebrate Respect for the Aged Day by

Dining together
Taking a trip together, like to the hot springs
Giving a handmade gift
Giving flowers, yellow, pink, or red chrysanthemums, would be a good pick
Most importantly, I think, is spending time together, as loneliness is becoming a huge issue

Defining ‘elderly’

Under the Act on Social Welfare for the Elderly, individuals 65 years old and older are considered elderly. However, there is recent talk of changing the eligibility age to start at 70 years old. Japan’s elderly make up 29.3% of its population. That is roughly 36.25 million people. “The number of women 65 and over was 20.53 million, or 32.3 percent of Japan’s female population, while the number of senior citizen men was 15.72 million, or 26.1 percent of the male population. “Baby boomers,” or the “dankai generation,” born between 1947 and 1949 will all be 75 or older by the end of this year. Government officials are bracing for the “2025 problem,” when medical and long-term care services may not be able to keep pace with the aging population” (The Asahi Shimbun).

As the population ages and younger people move to bigger cities, many small towns and villages are left with a small population that is predominantly elderly. A smaller population results in stores closing, as well as bus and train routes lessening or disappearing altogether, making travel difficult. Many of the elders have children, but they live far away and don’t often visit. Some elders have never had children and have had friends who filled the void a family would have filled. As a result, many elders face loneliness. Unfortunately, loneliness isn’t the biggest obstacle that the aging population faces at staggering rates.

“According to a recent white paper published by the government, more and more Japanese aged 65 and over, representing 29.1% of the population, live alone and suffer from a lack of social connections. But another disturbing phenomenon is intensifying: these same elderly people, often driven by poverty and loneliness, are deliberately choosing to commit petty crimes in order to be incarcerated. This unusual choice, in addition to that of kodokushi (solitary deaths), highlights deep-seated social problems in a country plagued by a rapidly ageing population and an economic crisis affecting senior citizens” (SilverEco).

Social Issues

Loneliness

As society has gradually shifted from being community-focused and helping neighbors, there are greater chances of social isolation. Social isolation can be seen in “the erosion of what Japanese communities call "chiiki-ryoku"—the collective capacity for local problem-solving and mutual aid PubMed Central2 that once characterized neighborhoods throughout the country. The challenge is not merely demographic; it's about preserving and adapting the social bonds that make communities resilient” (Genspark). Shareable interviews an elderly widow who has children but doesn’t “doesn’t wish to be a burden on her children or their spouses” (Shareable).

Kodokushi, lonely deaths

This is an issue that impacts every person living alone. It can happen to anyone regardless of age, but the number of elders far outweighs that of those younger than the age of 64. In 2024, over 58,000 elderly people died alone. The fear isn’t just dying alone; it’s also the fear of not being discovered for a long time. Of the 76,000 solitary deaths, “nearly 40% of them were found on the day of or the day after the estimated time of death, while roughly 70% were found within a week. However, there were 6,945 cases, or around 10%, in which the deceased wasn't discovered for over a month” (The Japan Times).

Poverty

The cost of living has been steadily increasing, and while the government has been trying to combat the impact through welfare programs and initiatives, much of the elderly population has been feeling the impact. “A study conducted on the living conditions of Japan’s elderly population showed several factors associated closely with mortality, including no air conditioning, no refrigerator and the cut-off of several essential services due to costliness. Out of the 7614 participants in the study, 12% struggled with one of these factors while 3.3% struggled with at least two” (TheBorgenProject).

With the current pension system, women who are unmarried or divorced will not receive the same amount as a married woman. For reference, the average amount of pension for someone who has paid into the system is around 780,000¥ a year. That’s around 65,000¥ a month. Japan-guide estimates that rent in Japan averages between 50,000-70,000¥. If an elderly person is renting, their entire pension check could just go towards rent.

While more seniors can work longer despite the current retirement age of 65, it isn’t always due to a desire to work. It can stem from a need for socialization, or money due to pension not being enough to make ends meet.

A prison or a sanctuary

As the fear of dying alone, facing poverty, and loneliness continues to grow along with the aging population, so has the number of elderly committing crimes to escape these issues. “In recent years, multiple media reports have noted the increase in kodokushi (“lonely deaths”), where bodies go undiscovered for weeks or even months. Boredom and loneliness is also thought to be a major reason behind why the crime rate among seniors has quadrupled over the past few decades, with many of the offences being petty shoplifting. In 2017, a Japanese government report noted that half of those arrested for shoplifting said they lived alone” (Shareable).

Whether it is to escape loneliness, poverty, or even just not to die alone, as the video and research suggest, many elderly see prison as a sanctuary, an answer to their prayers rather than a punishment. Let’s look at some crime statistics related to the elderly. “The number of people arrested for criminal offenses in 2019 was 192,607, a decrease of 6.5% from the previous year. Of those arrested, 42,463 were 65 years or older. Even though arrests of seniors dropped by 5.1% compared to 2018, the overall increase in the senior population and decrease in arrests for other age ranges led to the worst ratio on record for senior offenders of 22.0%.

Shoplifting accounted for more than half (52.4%) of crimes committed by seniors. Other crimes in this age group included robberies (17.6%), injuries/assaults (14.2%), and embezzlement (5.4%). On average in all age ranges, shoplifting stood at 28.7% and other thefts were 20.1%, in a clear indication that theft is high among senior offenders. Shoplifting offenses committed by senior women had a particularly high rate at 75.6%” (nippon.com).

Many elderly people who are barely making ends meet can’t afford an air conditioner, can’t afford sufficient healthcare, are lonely, and fear dying alone. Prison fixes that by providing them with air and heating, 3 meals a day, free healthcare, elderly care, and they receive daily interactions with prison staff and other inmates. In an interview with CNN, Yoko*, a former inmate, said that “(Some people) do bad things on purpose and get caught so that they can come to prison again, if they run out of money,” (East Coast Radio). The interviews continued.

This time with 81-year-old Akiyo, who is serving her second prison sentence. “Her first was in her 60s for stealing food, a crime driven by financial struggle. Living off a small pension, she has resorted to theft again. "If I had been financially stable and had a comfortable lifestyle, I definitely wouldn’t have done it," she told CNN correspondents” (East Coast Radio). I highly recommend reading CNN’s article “Japan’s elderly are lonely and struggling. Some women choose to go to jail instead”. It is filled with interviews from people who committed petty crimes to deal with loneliness, poverty, or the fear of dying alone.

Recognizing and combating the issue

Due to the complexity of elderly crime and the varying reasons why many elderly people are choosing to go to prison, the government started creating programs to combat elderly crime and the underlying issues behind it.

Long-Term Care Insurance

“...citizens start paying into when they turn 40. From the age of 65 (or earlier if necessary), seniors become eligible for various subsidies and services, based on assessments by welfare workers” (Shareable).

Community Life Stabilizing Support Centers

“Every prefecture in Japan has a support center to help former prisoners resettle into communities and try to reduce recidivism. The staff support elderly ex-prisoners who live alone and have no family or friends to rely on” (NHK).

Act for the Prevention of Recidivism

This act created a precedent for the government and prefectures to create recidivism plans and provide employment and housing support after being released from prison. It also states that they will be provided with Health, Medical, and Welfare Services.

People who Support Offender Rehabilitation

This initiative by the Ministry of Justice discusses volunteer probation officers, offender rehabilitation centers, rehabilitation aid, and more.

Despite the initiatives listed above, this isn’t a problem that can be solved wholly by the government. This is where NPOs come into play.

NPO REPRINTS Network

This NPO helps the elderly combat loneliness by allowing senior volunteers to visit kindergartens and elementary schools to read to the children.

"REPRINTS," reading picture books project run by senior volunteers, is an attempt to restore intergenerational ties, building a bridge between "old days" when adults and children were connected in a community, and ‘picture books’. Through communication by reading picture books aloud every week and by listening to the story, children, seniors, and the surrounding generation nourish each other and promote their wellness - that is the hope of "REPRINTS."

Social Hearts

“Social Hearts, a new non-profit organization, founded by father and son to overcome the generation gap with bonds and achieve the theme of Happy Second Life for the elderly.

We aim at enhancing lifelong learning, job creation & volunteer opportunities, along with enriching human interaction and exchange as core initiatives.

We focus on the elderly living in temporary housing in Otsuchi, (Iwate Prefecture), which was the hardest hit by the Tsunami on March 11, 2011.

We intend to apply the lessons and best practices of Otsuchi in servicing neighboring communities and share our know-how with other Pacific-Rim countries. Our challenge has just begun with the theme of a “Happy Second Life” for the elderly” (Social Hearts).

Ibasho

Mission

Ibasho partners with local organizations and communities to design and create socially integrated and sustainable communities that value their elders. We create a place where elders find opportunities to contribute to their community members of all ages.

Our Core Values are

Elders as assets
Multi-generational community life
Local participation and control
Design based on elders’ needs and cultural values
Design guided by elders’ stories and wisdom
Evidence-based practices
Global perspective to exchange knowledge and replicate what works

Our Goals

Reinforce the value of aging
Promote the value of socially integrating elders within the wider community
Demonstrate multi-generational social, economic, and environmental benefits
Facilitate shared learning and replicate the model between the developed and developing worlds

Ways to support

While the government and NPOs are doing their best, it’s still not enough to completely bridge the gap. This is where people like you and me can make a difference. How, you might ask. You can support local NPOs and government initiatives through monetary support and by volunteering. If volunteering or donating isn't feasible, be kind. Check in on your elderly relatives and neighbors. The smallest conversation or act of kindness can mean so much to someone who is lonely. So, this Respect for the Aged Day, cherish the elders in your life, but don’t forget about the elders around you.