Bicycle helmets with removable, stylish hats have been created to entice elderly Japanese to wear a helmet when riding a bike. The hats are designed so they can also be worn without the helmet. Bicycle helmets are rarely worn by the elderly in Japan. Seniors say they’d like to wear safety helmets, but the helmets
Funeral-services providers are offering photography services so you’ll have a decent photo to display at your funeral ceremony. Photography studios are also targeting the new funeral-photo market. A headshot of the deceased is usually on display at the start of funeral ceremonies in Japan. A different photo of the deceased – often a wedding photo
The effort to prevent elderly people from becoming victims of fraud continues with the debut of audio alerts during transactions at automatic teller machines in convenience stores. The caution message on the ATM screen and the voice announcement is designed to alert the elderly to the possibilty they are being swindled. The warning screen appears
January A letter a Kawasaki schoolgirl sent aloft by balloon in 1993 was found fastened to a fish by a fisherman off Choshi port,150 kilometers away from where the balloon was launched. February A 39-year-old man wearing a high school girl’s uniform and a long wig loitered near a Saitama high school and was arrested
Mobile phone signal-blocking at cash dispensers is the newest effort to fight fraud in Japan. In October Japan police made a major nationwide effort to prevent citizens – especially the elderly – from becoming victims of various telephone scams. In many of the frauds, senior citizens were instructed by phone to go to banks and
A soft, chewy candy that was linked to choking deaths and pulled from the market in October will be available again in early December in a new formula and with larger warnings on the packaging. Mannan Life Co., stopped production of its Konnyaku Batake brand konnyaku jelly Mini Cup after receiving reports of children and
The October nationwide campaign by the Japan National Police Agency aimed at preventing senior citizens from becoming victims of telephone fraud ended with door-to-door delivery of fraud-warning flyers in one ward of Tokyo. Cops in Setagaya-Ku, Tokyo, handed-out notices to residents at home, and placed the flyers in mailboxes if no one was at home.
Real Police Protect Real Old Elderly people using cell phones at automatic teller machines in banks, convenience stores, and train stations are being questioned by police in Japan during a month-long nationwide anti-scam campaign. The October effort is to prevent senior citizens from becoming victims of phone swindles. In one kind of scam, con artists
Opposite Directions Decreasing auto sales in Japan, combined with new laws targeting elderly drivers and other efforts to prevent pensioners from driving, are making it more difficult for auto manufacturers facing a different demographic future. Newsweek reports automobile sales in Japan have been declining steadily over time. It says aside from minicars and luxury foreign
