By Tamaki Saito
After mandatory retirement, the elderly are enrolling in graduate schools, joining sports clubs, actively socializing with members of the opposite sex, and frequently exhibiting a vim that puts young people to shame. Come to think of it, older people who send email messages on their mobile phones on the train are no longer a rare sight. There has also been an increase in the number of famous older people who continue to engage in vigorous activities without showing signs of their age: the 97-year-old doctor Shigeaki Hinohara, who is still practicing medicine: Kaneto Shindo, 96, the director who has just released a new movie: Jakucho Setouchi, 86, who has pecked out a mobile phone novel: and 76-year-old Shintaro Ishihara, who has written a long novel steeped in sex and violence while serving as Tokyo Governor.
Needless to say, however, there are two sides to youthfulness. Youthfulness can imply immaturity, which in turn can imply a lack of control over impulses. I have noticed that more and more old people are flipping out over trivial matters, making a persistent fuss over problems at counters, blaming their personal misfortunes on their parents, and becoming entrapped in cults while seeking spiritual solace. My observations are not based on mere superficial impressions.
The 2008 White Paper on Crime, which was released in November, includes a special section on "elderly criminals" for the first time in a long while. Notwithstanding sensational media coverage, crimes by youths have not been on the rise. On the other hand, the number of older criminals has steadily increased, although this problem is hardly ever addressed by the media.
Of those taken into custody for infractions of the criminal law in 2007, 48,605 could be categorized as elderly, or aged 65 and older. This is the largest number of older criminals to be detained since the government began collecting such statistics in 1986. In 1998, there were only 13,739 elderly people taken into custody for criminal law violations, so there has been a 3.5-fold increase in older criminals since then. Their population has risen at a pace that far surpasses the 1.3-fold increase in the elderly population as a whole during the past decade.
There has been a rise in the number of murder, robbery, bodily harm, assault, theft, and fraud cases, but 65 percent of the infractions have been for theft, of which the majority of cases involve shoplifting. The surge in shoplifting seems to be the best reflection of these times. Older men who were detained for shoplifting were often repeat offenders and frequently homeless or without fixed abodes. Nearly 70 percent cited poverty as their reason for shoplifting, and many said that they were hungry. Meanwhile, females frequently turned to shoplifting because they "desired the item that they stole" or wanted "to save money," even when they did not have difficulty meeting their living expenses due to pensions and assistance from relatives.
As causes of the spike in elderly crime, the White Paper on Crime points to the increase in the number of elderly living alone due to unstable living situations, and to the rise in the number of older people who fail to take advantage of welfare programs in spite of their unstable finances. These trends are manifestations of greater social isolation and financial uncertainty.
The surge in incidents involving bodily harm and violence inflicted by the elderly is attributed to "stubbornness and pride stirred up by anger and rage." The elderly are also committing more murders, and most of their victims are close family members and relatives. "Fatigue from providing care" is a motive frequently cited by older people who commit murder. "Isolation" also appears to have played an important role in the rise in these types of crimes.
In his book "Boso Rojin!" (The Elderly Run Wild!), the author Tomomi Fujiwara asserts that many older people have been alienated by the manners and media that distinguish the communication environment of modern society. The "new" elderly who are quick to flip out and run wild are sounding a warning regarding the dangers of the restraints on freedom and the difficulty of living in this social system, says Fujiwara.
The isolation of the elderly seems to be quite pronounced even when compared to the increased social withdrawal of young people in recent years. This is because at the present time most young people have their families to fall back on. The reason that the homelessness rate for young people in Japan is among the lowest for advanced industrialized countries is that young people who have dropped out are still embraced by their families. But almost all of the elderly who live alone do not have families they can turn to.
The image of the "elderly growing old and withered" is the stuff of fiction. To grow old in comfort is a privilege limited to those who have the support of acquaintances and communities that make this possible. The ideal of the elderly person described in Confucius' Analects who comes to "know his fate, accept what he hears, and follow his heart" as he grows older is not something that is achieved naturally through aging, but rather depends on the division of labor that is sustained by communities.
Isolation brings about stubbornness and a lack of stability, and exposes the various immaturities inherent in human beings. This is true of both young people and older people. But the isolation that affects older people is usually more unforgiving.
Tetsutaro Kawakami wrote in "Watashi no Shi to Shinjitsu" (My Poems and Truth) that "people become more polished with age." But aging also sharpens isolation. What is needed today is not only an expansion of welfare programs for the elderly but also measures to ensure that the families and acquaintances who support the elderly receive proper assistance. (By Tamaki Saito, psychiatrist)
(Mainichi Japan) January 26, 2009
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