On December 24th, the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare announced the results of a survey that the number of cases of abuse of elderly people at home in 2020 increased by 2.1% from the previous year to 17,281 cases, a record high. There were 25 deaths, an increase of 10 from the previous year.
Former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida, former internal affairs minister Sanae Takaichi and former gender equality minister Seiko Noda said in an online town hall meeting for the Sept. 29 presidential election of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party that more people aged 65 and older should continue to work and pay pension premiums.
Elderly men totaled 15.83 million, or 26 pct of the total male population. There were 20.57 million elderly women, or 32 pct of the female population.
The ministry released the data ahead of Respect for the Aged Day on Monday, a national holiday.
Progress in the COVID-19 vaccination campaign may have prevented more than 8,000 deaths of people 65 or older and spared more than 100,000 elderly people from novel coronavirus infection in July and August, according to an estimate compiled by Japan’s Health, Labour and Welfare Ministry.
Specifically, the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry will provide financial assistance to prefectural governments to help them conduct disaster training programs targeting managers and senior staff workers of special and group homes for elderly people.
“The number of seriously ill patients in the 40-to-early 60s age range is increasing, so it is necessary to speed up vaccinations. If this generation gets vaccinated, then the younger generations, which include their children, will be more willing to get the vaccine.”
Public prosecutors demanded a prison term of seven years on Thursday for a 90-year-old former senior Japanese government official over a high-profile fatal runaway car accident in Tokyo in 2019.
S2, a Japanese server company, said Friday it will launch an elderly professional e-sports team, the first of its kind in Japan. The members of the team will all be residents of Akita Prefecture, northeastern Japan, aged 65 or older. They will be called Matagi Snipers, after “matagi” Japanese traditional hunters.
All 1,741 municipalities in the country expect to complete inoculating residents aged 65 and older by the end of next month, said the sources who reviewed a government survey on the matter.
A survey found that four cities — including Sakai, Osaka Prefecture — have administered a first shot to over 50% of their populations, while another 14 cities — including Yamaguchi — have cleared the 40% threshold. Rounding out the bottom of the list were 15 municipalities where fewer than 20% of elderly residents had received their first shot.
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