From: unk...@googlegroups.com   
      
   Dementia Crisis Roils Japan as 10,000 Seniors Go Missing - Bloomberg   
      
      
   'Mom Turned Into a Monster': 10,000 Seniors Go Missing in Japan   
      
   By Kanoko Matsuyama - Nov 3, 2014   
      
      
   Asayo Sakai banged on the front door, demanding to be let out. She was at her   
   daughter's apartment, where Asayo has lived for the past six years. She has no   
   memory of how she got there or what she's doing there.   
      
   As her daughter, Akiko, blocked the way, Asayo, 87 and suffering from   
   dementia, lashed out, hitting and biting. The scene repeated itself with   
   agonizing predictability for a solid year until one day Akiko, exhausted, gave   
   in and opened the door, letting    
   Asayo wander the streets of Osaka's busy financial center in western Japan.   
      
   "I thought, get out of here, if that's what you want," Akiko said. "Mom turned   
   into a monster and I couldn't handle her. I thought my life was over."   
      
   What happened next taught Akiko things she never knew about her mother -- and   
   herself. Asayo's walks lasted hours upon hours and into the early morning. At   
   first, her daughter followed from a safe distance. When police assured her   
   they'd try to keep an    
   eye on Asayo, she let her mom roam around the city alone.   
      
   It was a risky act of desperation. Yet Akiko soon discovered within her own   
   neighborhood how Japan is trying to become more dementia-friendly. In 2013,   
   the government started a program that helps families and communities deal with   
   dementia sufferers on    
   their own. Businesses are helping as well. Asayo's story provides a glimpse of   
   where Japan's policies may be headed, how far the country still has to go, and   
   the extent to which it is providing a roadmap for other countries.   
      
   Akiko is among the tens of thousands of Japanese grown children and other   
   caretakers who, lacking access to nursing homes or sufficient help at home,   
   have been pushed to their psychological limits.   
      
   "People are desperate to find ways to handle dementia patients," said Hiroko   
   Sugawara, who runs a government-funded educational campaign on dementia.   
      
   Elderly Care Crisis   
      
   That dynamic has given rise to a growing elderly care crisis in Japan, where   
   more than 10,000 seniors with dementia went missing last year, according to   
   the National Police Agency. Some disappear for years, others never return or   
   are eventually found    
   dead. Caretakers have snapped, injuring or even killing their loved ones. In   
   2012, 27 seniors in Japan were murdered or died from neglect, although it's   
   unclear how many suffered from dementia.   
      
   The number of seniors abused by family members jumped 21 percent to more than   
   15,000 in 2012 from 2006, half of whom suffered from the condition, according   
   to a Japan Health Ministry survey.   
      
   While other countries are aging, none have done so as rapidly as Japan, where   
   an estimated 8 million people suffer from dementia or show early signs of   
   developing the disease. That's about 6 percent of Japan's population. By 2060,   
   40 percent of Japanese    
   will be over 65, up from 24 percent today, according to National Institute of   
   Population and Social Security Research. And as the population ages, the   
   proportion of tax-paying workers will decrease relative to the swelling ranks   
   of dependent seniors.   
      
   Funding for the stay-at-home program, at just $31 million this fiscal year, is   
   low compared with spending on the disease by other developed countries. At the   
   same time, the government has been raising premiums and reducing access to   
   state-funded services    
   as part of a broader effort to reduce spending, adding to caretakers'   
   difficulties. Yet the concept of care that is more humane and less expensive   
   than locking up patients in nursing homes is one that experts say holds   
   promise.   
      
   Support Network   
      
   As families struggle with their loved ones at home, businesses are also   
   striving to adapt as shoppers age. Dementia patients tend to buy the same   
   products over and over again, said Kimika Tsukada, a manager of social affairs   
   at Aeon Co., Japan's largest    
   retailer. They open food packages in stores, eat without paying, and get lost   
   in shopping malls, Tsukada said.   
      
   Banks also pose a challenge for forgetful seniors. Elderly customers forget   
   PINs for ATMs or where they've put passbooks, said Yuriko Asahara, for two   
   decades a Tokyo suburban branch manager of Japan Post Holdings Co., the   
   country's biggest holder of    
   bank deposits. Asahara recalled a 76-year-old woman who lost her passbook nine   
   times in a few weeks. She has been regularly accused over a 20-year period of   
   stealing money by another woman now in her 80s.   
      
   The growing number of elderly with dementia wandering Japan's stores have   
   resulted in some unusual caregiving arrangements. Asahara sometimes helps   
   customers who've lost their way get home. Or she helps them replace missing   
   keys, or decipher complicated    
   utility bills.   
      
   Both Aeon and Japan Post Holdings have programs to teach sales clerks and   
   staff how to handle customers who show signs of dementia. Retail and bank   
   employees are among the 5.4 million Japanese who have taken the    
   overnment-funded courses.   
      
   Aeon's training program, which began in 2007, has trained about 10 percent of   
   the retailer's 400,000 employees, Tsukada said. Mizuho Financial Group Inc.,   
   among the country's largest banks, required all of its 1,400 floor clerks to   
   take a class in    
   dealing with customers with dementia. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. had a   
   quarter of its 40,000 employees learn about the condition.   
      
   "It's time for communities to step in and help out," said Sugawara, the   
   government program's director.   
      
   As the years have passed since Asayo first began her walks, her Osaka   
   neighborhood of Kitahama has become an informal support network. When Shigeo   
   Asai, 75, the building manager of Akiko's apartment house, spots Asayo in an   
   elevator on his monitor at,    
   say, 6 a.m., he invites her into his office for a chat. The small talk makes   
   her smile and she then often returns to her apartment, he said.   
      
   Asai has also taken to telling other tenants about Asayo's dementia. He   
   encouraged youngsters in the building to greet her and spread the word to   
   their parents, who now also help if necessary, he said.   
      
   "Akiko let everyone see how hard it is to live with her mom," said Asai, whose   
   elderly sister was recently diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. "That's why we   
   help. That's the way to go. It can happen to anybody."   
      
      
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