The following is from a regular column by Mr. Sekihei that appeared in the Sankei Shimbun on July 18th.
It is a must-read not only for the Japanese people but for people worldwide.
The "Youth Old People's Home" born of a sense of entrapment
In China, old people's homes are called "old people's homes".
The literal meaning is "a home that takes care of the elderly," it is a facility where older people spend their retirement years receiving nursing care and other services.
However, surprisingly, private facilities called "youth old people's homes" have appeared in various parts of China and are causing a stir.
According to the Tianjin local newspaper "Mainichi Shimpo," dated the 3rd of this month, young old people's homes are being established one after another in places such as Chongqing, Zhengzhou, Hefei, and Luoyang and are quietly becoming a boom.
Most of the facilities are located in the countryside or hilly areas around urban areas, and many of them are made from reused old buildings.
The founders are usually young people and recruit residents with an age limit of "45 years old or younger".
Most of the residents are young people in their 20s and 30s.
They usually sleep in until noon, and after getting up, they spend their time leisurely tending the facility's vegetable garden, feeding the chickens they raise themselves, taking walks around the area, or playing sports.
Residents enjoy a social life in the evening by holding homemade mini-concerts, book clubs, and social gatherings.
The monthly rent is around 1,500 yuan (about 33,000 yen).
If you take on services such as cooking and cleaning for other residents at the facility, your rent will be reduced somewhat in proportion to your work.
Many facilities have a duty system for cooking and cleaning, and the residents carry out these duties themselves.
In this way, the "youth old people's home" is essentially a place where young people can live independently in a group, away from the real world of workplaces and family relationships, and where they can live on a minimum of food, clothing, and shelter for a low monthly fee.
Of course, they don't receive nursing care or other services there or spend their "old age" there, so "old people's home" is probably just a metaphorical expression.
Why are facilities like this appearing all over the country?
An article in the Guangzhou Daily dated March 15th this year analyzed the situation as the result of "some young people in modern society, who are facing great pressure and uncertainty in both their work and personal lives, seeking a stress-free, laid-back old-age lifestyle."
It is on the mark to some extent.
In China today, the economy is in the process of collapse, and there is a storm of restructuring and pay cuts, with unemployment flooding in, especially among the young.
Society is in a tight situation. Competition is becoming increasingly intense, and there is a growing sense of entrapment with no future in sight.
For several years now, there has been a mass emergence in China of the "lazybones" who escape reality, which has become a social phenomenon. The "youth retirement home" is probably where the lazybones have gathered in search of the ultimate "Shangri-La."
While effectively severing themselves from the real world, they provide each other with emotional support and enter into a passive, self-sufficient lifestyle like that of old age.
The article above in the Guangzhou Daily concludes with a warning that "the Youth Retirement Home must not become a hangout for the Lying Down Tribe. It must not become a real retirement home." This indicates that this is what is happening in reality.
How widespread the youth retirement home has become needs to be clarified and how long it will last.
However, the appearance of such facilities results from economic and social collapse in China and is a sign that young people have lost their dreams for the future in the face of a hopeless reality.
A country where young people who should be the country's future are entering "retirement life" in their 20s and 30s will naturally have no future.
2024/7/26 in Osaka
