Elders who steal to avoid loneliness in Japan

In Japan, the act of stealing is hard punished. There the laws are very strict and those over 65 know it. How they publish several media, From a few years to this part an increasingly common practice has been extended: elders who steal to avoid loneliness. However, they also do so for their low economic levels. What is happening in Japan? Is it worth stealing 70 years to go to jail?

Without a doubt, it is a problem that reflects an increasingly individualistic society where the old man has been relegated to a secondary role. A role that forces him to face day to day in solitude and with pensions so low that it makes them impossible to maintain a good quality of life. Throughout the article these factors will be addressed to have a broader vision and understand what happens in the Japanese country.

Content

• Elders who steal in Japan
  • Avoid loneliness
  • Poverty
• Elders who steal: final reflection

Elders who steal in Japan

If we investigate a bit on the Internet, we will find news that talk about an increasingly widespread practice in Japan among the elderly: steal. This behavior is explained for two reasons: loneliness and poverty. On the one hand, loneliness has become the most regular companion of the elderly in Japan. On the other, the low pensions push them to steal to spend a season in jail. Let's deepen!

Avoid loneliness

Kanichi Yamada, 85, is the director of "With Hiroshima". When Yamada was a kid was rescued alive after Hiroshima was razed by the atomic bomb. Director of "With Hiroshima", assures that A lot of nursing homes lived a before and after in their lives from which they never recovered. It was a time when they lost many relatives, which meant a trauma that led them to remain in solitude since then.

Yamada, in an interview with the BBC newspaper, says "Among the elderly who commit crimes, many lived a turning point in the middle of their life. There is a trigger. They lose the wife, or a child, and they cannot deal with that ... usually, people don't commit crimes if someone takes care of them and helps them".

"Loneliness and the feeling of being undesirable is the most terrible poverty". -Mother Teresa-

Through their statements, we observe that loneliness becomes a reason that makes the elderly who steal in Japan into presidiaries to enjoy company. However, he points out that if someone takes care of them and help them, there would be no criminal acts. In this way, we can ask ourselves if measures could be taken to avoid this loneliness.

Poverty

The Clarín newspaper ensures that in 1991, the crimes committed for over 60 years reached 4%, but currently promoted to 25%, which represents an increase of 600%. Japanese laws are very hard, as this newspaper points out, stealing a dollar and a half sandwich has a prison sentence of up to two years. So, it is not necessary to steal a bank or commit great thefts, it is enough to go to a supermarket and steal anything.

The low pensions in Japan plus the neglect of the elderly by their families, also implies a factor that increases crime. Not being able to get to the end of the month, they prefer to live for free in jail than to suffer hardships in their day to day. Some elders say that while they are in prison they have no expenses and when they continue to charge their pension, when they leave they have something saved. Demographer Michael Newman emphasizes that "Retirees do not want to be a burden to their children. If they cannot survive with the pension, they feel that the only way not to be a ballast is to make them in jail".

It should be noted that Japan's authorities are aware of this type of conduct, so they have been forced to remodel prisons. By increasing the number of elderly who steal, prisons have been adapted to the elderly residences. Despite this and the effort to make them feel comfortable, perhaps taking measures to avoid that loneliness, would also eliminate criminal behavior among the elderly.

Elders who steal: final reflection

The simple fact of reading that in Japan we find elders to steal to avoid loneliness and alleviate their economic problems already makes us think that something is regular. The society where the elderly were venerated and respected is no longer the same. Now, somehow, the thought has been imposed that we are worth what we produce. Retirees, for many families, suppose a burden, so they see them like a ballast.

"Memories do not populate our loneliness, as they usually say; before the contrary, they make it deeper". -Gustave Flauvert-

What's going on? The change of mentality of a social level to an individualistic level is making us more and more selfish beings. This means looking to ensure our own success without anything or anyone "bothering us". Perhaps this type of news and situations could make us reflect on this problem.

Undoubtedly, these are events that do not leave anyone indifferent and invite a deep introspection. Through introspection we can find our role in society and be aware that it is not a foreign problem, but that we can all contribute our grain of sand to make the world a better place.