Where are Japan’s Missing Centenarians?

This week marks the beginning of Japan’s nation-wide campaign directed at establishing the location of some of its older residents who appear to have disappeared off the face of the earth.

The project has been initiated in response to a media frenzy concerning the whereabouts of at least 18 centenarians. The entire matter is rather embarrassing for Japan is considered a nation that prides itself on its care of the elderly.

The national promotion comes in the wake of the recent discovery of the mummified remains of Sogen Kato, who was believed to be 111 years old and the city’s oldest living man.

Officials found him dressed in long johns and covered with a blanket, and it was determined that he had been dead for 32 years. This led to the subsequent search for the oldest woman, 113-year-old, Fusa Furuya, who has been missing more than twenty years!

The disappearances are much more than embarrassing, for the fear among officials is that due to bad record-keeping, some citizens entitled to pension funds are at risk of being deprived of them while other families are getting away with bilking the national pension system.

The Japanese welfare ministry lost millions of files relating to the national pension system back in 2007, paving the way for fraud and mis-appropriation of funds. Officially speaking, there are more than 40,000 people in Japan above the age of 100, but now who knows?

“It is impossible to keep a check on who is alive or dead, unless somebody registers a person’s death… The pension system is founded on the premise that people are good, not that they kill family members at home, and bury them,” said Midori Kotani, researcher at Dai-Ichi Life Research Institute.

The discovery of Mr. Kato has shocked the nation and is raising important questions about the care of the elderly in Japan. Police arrested some family members and charged them with abandoning a corpse and fraudulently withdrawing millions of yen in pension payments from Kato’s bank account.

“It is important for authorities to grasp the reality of where and how old people are living,” Health Minister, Akira Nagatsuma told the press.

The underlying issue is that more and more Japanese have come to rely on social welfare.

“Rather than relying solely on the belief that human nature is fundamentally good, with families helping elderly people, we have to create an arrangement in which public institutions can properly intervene,” said Yasuhiro Yuki, an associate professor at Shukutoku University.

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http://www.weirdasianews.com/2010/08/14/japans-missing-centenarians/