Quote:
Not even a freezing afternoon can tempt Yusaku Hosoe to retreat to the warmth of his home. He and a dozen friends are lured to Kukizaki park by a new interest in keeping fit, their exertions punctuated by peals of laughter that echo across the deserted children's playground nearby.
There are no dumbbells or treadmills at the park in Tsukuba, a university town north of Tokyo, just a few pieces of equipment specially designed to strengthen muscles and improve posture and balance.
If those sound like modest goals, it is because most of these amateur athletes are in their 70s. They are part of a growing band of Japanese retirees who are taking over public parks that were once the preserve of toddlers and their mothers.
The boom in workout classes and exercise equipment for "silver" athletes is being fuelled by Japan's skewed demographics. More than a fifth of the country's 127 million people are aged over 65 – including 40,000 centenarians – while the declining birthrate means 40% of Japanese will be above retirement age by the middle of the century.
There are no dumbbells or treadmills at the park in Tsukuba, a university town north of Tokyo, just a few pieces of equipment specially designed to strengthen muscles and improve posture and balance.
If those sound like modest goals, it is because most of these amateur athletes are in their 70s. They are part of a growing band of Japanese retirees who are taking over public parks that were once the preserve of toddlers and their mothers.
The boom in workout classes and exercise equipment for "silver" athletes is being fuelled by Japan's skewed demographics. More than a fifth of the country's 127 million people are aged over 65 – including 40,000 centenarians – while the declining birthrate means 40% of Japanese will be above retirement age by the middle of the century.
I would love to see this in the UK, but I worry that in the UK we are too sold on sitting an OAP in a chair, in front of a TV and letting them rot till death ...
Thoughts?