
17 September 2018 is the Respect for the Aged Day which is a national holiday.
First of all, please see here.
This is a monument at Taka Town, Hyogo Prefecture.
It writes “Place Proclaiming Respect for the Aged Day”.
Respect for the Aged Day originated in the activity respecting for the seniors held in this town in 1947.
At that time, the activity was that seniors aged 55 and above were invited to the assembly hall for feasts.
Originally the Respect for the Aged Day is “a day to celebrate the longevity and show respect and love towards the elderly who contribute to the society for years”.
According to the latest statistics,
the population of “elderly” who are over 65 years old is around 35.57 million people, 440,000 more than last year, this year the statistics also reached the highest in history.
This accounts for 28.1% of the total population, even in the world, Japan has the highest proportion of elderly people.
While the population is aging, the way of thinking about the Respect for the Aged Day is also changing.
In the survey asking “from what age do you celebrate the Respect for the Aged Day?”, the average answer is 68.3 years old, which is 1.2 years older than the answer collected five years ago.
In addition, in the survey asking “What did you do for your parents on the Respect for the Aged Day?”, most respondents answered “I have not done anything”, and few respondents answered “I met them” or “I contacted them”.
While I think that there are many people who are not able to meet their parents because of work etc., perhaps it would be a good to take this opportunity to go home and meet your parents.
Source: http://www.ntv.co.jp/zero/ichimen/2018/09/post-368.html