{"id":2309,"date":"2025-09-29T18:00:28","date_gmt":"2025-09-30T01:00:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/?p=2309"},"modified":"2025-09-29T18:00:28","modified_gmt":"2025-09-30T01:00:28","slug":"japanese-city-abolishes-88th-birthday-celebratory-money-gift-because-people-are-living-longer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/?p=2309","title":{"rendered":"Japanese city abolishes 88th birthday celebratory money gift because people are living longer"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

A city\u2019s longstanding tradition is no more as something that\u2019s very<\/span><\/strong> good for its residents turns out to be very bad for its budget<\/strong>.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Keiro no Hi<\/strong>, known as Respect for the Aged Day <\/strong><\/a>in English, is a public holiday in Japan that occurs annually on the third Monday of September. Just as the name implies, it\u2019s a day to honor the senior citizens of the country. On this year\u2019s celebration, September 15, Japan\u2019s Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare<\/strong> announced that there are approximately 99,800 people aged 100 years or older<\/strong> around the country\u2013breaking the record for the 55th consecutive year. <\/strong>Many localities held formal ceremonies and gave gifts to those who are reaching important age milestones in Japanese culture such as 88 years of age<\/strong> (known as beiju<\/em>) and 99 years of age<\/strong> (known as hakuju<\/em>).<\/p>\n

However, things looked a little different for certain senior citizens in Okazaki City, Aichi Prefecture<\/strong> this year because the city has abolished a tradition known as \u201ccongratulatory money\u201d in which local officials present 10,000 yen (US$67)<\/strong> for those celebrating their beiju<\/em> milestone.<\/p>\n

\u25bc Residents of Okazaki who turn 88 will no longer be greeted by the faces of Yukichi Fukuzawa on older 10,000-yen banknotes or Eiichi Shibusawa on newer banknotes<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

In Japan, the average life expectancy for women now exceeds 87 years<\/strong>, and in Okazaki, one in four people is over the age of 65<\/strong>, with that number only expected to increase moving forward. By no longer giving out the congratulatory money for those celebrating the beiju<\/em> milestone, the city estimates that it can save about 20 million yen per year. <\/strong>Instead, it would rather focus those funds on increasing the number of healthy seniors and investing in preventative care for them, among other measures.<\/p>\n

Local residents responded to the news with mixed reactions, particularly among those who are just missing out on the cash gift:<\/p>\n

\n

82-year-old resident:<\/strong> \u201cIt\u2019s a shame. I\u2019m living on a pension so 10,000 yen is a lot.\u201d<\/em>
\n87-year-old resident: <\/strong>\u201cWith another good thing going away this year, we really are the generation that\u2019s had bad luck since a long time ago.\u201d<\/em>
\nResident in their 60s:<\/strong> \u201cI\u2019d rather have that money support my grandchildren\u2019s generation.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\u25bc What we imagine the scene looked like outside of the Okazaki City Hall right after the announcement<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

On the bright side, those reaching the hakuju<\/em> milestone will continue to receive monetary gifts, so the current 80-something-year-olds just have to focus on staying healthy and hanging in there. When it\u2019s their time, we\u2019d then be happy to show them a few ways that we\u2019d suggest they spend that hard-earned cash<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Source: Chubu-Nippon Broadcasting Co. (CBC) News X<\/a><\/em>
\nTop image: Pakutaso<\/a>
\nImages: Pakutaso (1<\/a>, 2<\/a><\/em>)<\/em>
\n\u25cf Want to hear about SoraNews24\u2019s latest articles as soon as they\u2019re published? Follow us on Facebook<\/a> and Twitter<\/a>!<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A city\u2019s longstanding tradition is no more as something that\u2019s very good for its residents turns out to be very bad for its budget. Keiro no Hi, known as Respect…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2309","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-rss"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2309","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2309"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2309\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2309"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2309"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2309"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}