It was very sunny again from the morning today, and it feels like it may become quite hot. I came to the workshop again in the afternoon and spent some time taking care of workshop tasks and continuing my work. I did not do a large amount of production today, but I assembled the drawer sections for the 5-sun puzzle boxes, and also made and assembled the side panels for the 2-sun cube puzzle boxes that I started yesterday. The 2-sun cube puzzle boxes do not share the same internal parts as the 3-sun size boxes, so if I do not have enough small parts in stock, I may need to make new ones.
Until around summer, the road I use to come to the workshop is under large-scale construction, so there is usually quite a lot of traffic on weekends. This area is on the way to popular sightseeing places such as Hakone, Atami, and Izu Peninsula, so many cars travel through here for tourism during the weekends. Because of that, the roads become especially crowded during the daytime on Saturdays and Sundays. On weekdays it is not really a problem for me, because I usually come to the workshop early before the traffic becomes heavy. Still, I hope the construction work will finish soon.
In the end, the roads would be crowded anyway, so I waited until the afternoon, when the traffic becomes a little lighter, before coming to the workshop. Before that, in the morning, I went to a neighbor’s house and installed a curtain rail to help prepare for the hotter days that will come soon. The reason I did this is because she is an elderly woman, 90 years old, living alone. Recently her physical condition has not been very good, and she is receiving support from local government services. However, support from the government alone cannot fully cover daily life assistance, so after speaking with the support staff, my wife has been visiting her every day to check on her and help with things like taking out garbage and cleaning up. She is not bedridden yet, but it seems she may become so in the near future. One of the rooms did not have curtains, so the storm shutters on that window had remained closed all year long. Because of that, we decided to install curtains so the window could finally be opened. As you probably know, even for people who cannot move around very much, getting sunlight during the daytime is very important, and it can also have a positive effect mentally. Recently her cognitive abilities have also started to decline a little, so I believe this is important for helping her condition as well.
In Japan, as in several other countries, the aging population has become a major issue for social infrastructure and financial resources. The average life expectancy in Japan has continued to rise, reaching about 87 years for women and 81 years for men, and the average age of the total population has also increased to around 49 years old. The government provides many kinds of support and nursing care services, but because there are not enough caregivers and support workers, it is difficult to say that the system is truly sufficient. For elderly people living alone without close family, they are often encouraged to move into care facilities for senior citizens. However, these facilities are extremely expensive, and for families with ordinary incomes, the cost is very difficult to afford. There are also lower-cost full-care facilities led by the government, but in reality, only people who meet many strict conditions, such as physical ability and cognitive condition requirements, can enter them. Because of this, the situation remains very difficult.
Recently, I have started to see more foreign staff members working for nursing care and home support services that visit people’s houses. It seems they are a great help in this industry, which has a serious worker shortage. Many of them are from South America and Southeast Asia, and they study very hard and speak Japanese very fluently. Maybe it is part of their culture, but they are also very friendly, and they seem to be well liked by the elderly people receiving support. I hope support systems like this will continue to improve and become more available in the future.
