Mass Swindling Puts Japan’s High Life Expectancy in Doubt
- Categories: Japan, News
- Date: Aug 3, 2010 17:50 JST
- Tags: Bizarre, Crime, Fraud, Hikikomori, Obituaries, Old People, Police, Tokyo
Coming immediately after the case of a 117-year-old man who turned out to be a mummy, the 113-year-old woman supposed to be the oldest person in Tokyo has “disappeared,” with family claiming not to have met her for 25 years.
Many now suspect that much of Japan’s elderly population may in fact be alive in name only, and maintained by unscrupulous relatives for the purpose of making fraudulent pension claims.
The scandal over non-existent old people coincides with the Japanese government releasing updated life expectancy statistics – 79.59 for men and 86.44 for women.
These statistics make Japanese women the longest lived in the world, and place men in the top 5. Overall Japan is the oldest, closely trailed by Hong Kong.
Japan’s huge elderly population is not in doubt, but its large population of centenarians certainly now is.
Local governments administering pension payments apparently often pay out without ever checking whether the recipient is alive, leading to elderly people long since dead being kept on their books to allow claims.
One writer involved with a project to photograph centenarians reports that “there was an extremely large number of cases where we visited their homes but were refused permission by the family or told they don’t actually live there.”
Officials with Japan’s Social Insurance Agency, responsible for handling pensions, also report falsification of pension documents is being uncovered in large numbers.
Japan is also noted for rarely carrying out autopsies compared to other developed nations, leaving even greater scope for fraud.
Not only may Japan face the humiliation of having to re-examine its pride at supposedly having the world’s longest life expectancy, it also faces far more alarming questions over why a nation with crippling national debt in the midst of huge tax hikes, and facing a massive pension crisis, has allowed such fraud to continue unchecked.
Update: Local governments in Tokyo are reporting three men aged 108, 103 and 102 have just been discovered to be “missing.”
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So this is how hikkimori stay funded.
Mind: Blown
JAPAN AND HORRENDOUS JUSTICE SYSTEM? NO WAY.
But seriously, it's not only the life expectancy fraud that's going on, but as the article states, the lack of a consistent autopsy system, the lack of a balanced judicial system to the specific laws' holes that allows for abuse of welfare, child welfare, etc etc.
This is actually kinda funny considering older statesmen in Japan typically vote for these exorbitant welfare systems that are so easy to abuse. Well, not saying it doesn't happen elsewhere. Because the way many American cities' pension system is set up, if you work ONE DAY in a county, you rake up the pension until you're filthy rich, RETIRED.
Man, what is up with old swindlers? There's so many things to exploit for them.
who wants to live 100 years anyway? it would just be 'surviving' at that point...
What about staying on SanCom?
"Who Wants to Live Forever"!
I'd rather be a millionair and have a good live (fun and charity of course)
The only reason there's lots of fraud in Japan is because noone bothers to check things.
@Palmtop Tiger
Speaking of Hikkimoris...
I wonder how much money Kaguya Houraisen has now...
That Eintei NEET must be loaded enough to buy every anime/doujin/figure/plush/manga/sextoy she wants...
Gensokyo is not covered by Japanese government. Sorry.
She is the heir to the land owned by her adoptive earth barbarians. They'll want to tax her for her land.
She never have to worry about income tax though.
Getting money for imaginary elders is a cool system for Hikki's...
That's the first thing that came to my mind too when I read this ^^
moredotsmoredots.
Sad thing is, maybe it's not only the families in question that are making money off of pensions, but the insurance agencies as well. How, I srsly don't know..but the fact that they've kept this on this long means there HAS to be that loophole that brings in cash. Just a possibility tho ┐('～`；)┌
Cheat Enabled.
Achievement Disabled.
=P
It seems like a nationwide fraud system going on unchecked for decades. Just like the nationwide fraud system in germany regarding VAT cheating.
I wonder why nothing gets done about that. Somewhere some influential people seem to make high profits...
What VAT cheating in particular do you mean?
I can believe in people living beyond a hundred. I personally had a grandfather reach 103. Owned a farm in British COlumbia, he worked on it until his eventual and sudden demise. But to stage a con using a dead relative's name for the sake of a little extra cash is pretty low in my books.
No doubt there.
actually, i disagree. allot of people who do this don't do it for the extra money, they do it because they need the extra money. an extra what, 2000$ a year for some people may be the difference of keeping there house, or needing to commute to work for 6 hours any given day.
It may be true that some people need this money, but doing it this way will not only damage the system already in place to assist low income families, but tarnish the family name in the process. The last thing we need is the government having a reason to be MORE stingy with economic assistance.
are you thinking america? we are the ones who bend over fucking backwards for poor. i dont think japan even gives a fuck realy, never heard of there welfare system.
You sure he reached 103? Back in the days they often made people older on the paper so they could do work, they otherwise couldn't or otherwise gain some profit from it.
Great grandfather Joe, 1896-1999. Served in BOTH World Wars in the Canadian navy. He didn't see much action on the Pacific though, probably why he survived.
The closest he came to danger was when he was transferring to another ship out at sea. As he was swimming across the other crew started screaming at him. He didn't know why until he climbed aboard. I guess a few sharks had started chasing him.
If my son/daughter will be a hikki I won't hesitate to help him/her out even if I'm already dead. (ofc only if he/she are okay with it) xD
Only in Japan...
I suppose greed and neglect aren't exclusive to Japan.
I have read about similar cases here in Brazil several times. Social security frauds happen everywhere.
Not Japan.
Only in Tokyo.
Funny situation... The Japanese government mustn't not be laughing dough. I wonder if those supposed "Elderly people" also voted?
Zombie votes?
Now I understand where the autor got the inspiration for HOTD. It's clearly a Japanese thing now... ^_^
Interesting point... Where I live you have to bring an identity card (with a photo) and a voting pass to the booth, which would make it hard for dead people to vote. How are these things organised in Japan?
Why are mummies being discriminated ?
Oh my God.
There is an outbreak of the ever-feared Kinzo disease.
Next thing you know, they will start arresting people for practicing black magic and sacrificing their relatives.
*applause*
(*is looking forward to August 14th*)
Hahahaha!
Look on the bright side: Now, at least Japan's swindling expectancy rate is higher.
I don't see how the lack of super-old people may influence the statistics - it's not like the country can have a high life expectancy because it has one or two people who are older than 100 years. IMO the primary factor in calculating life expectancy should be the quality of life, not the overall average age of the population
Your opinion, however, has no bearing on the definition of life expectancy. It is the average of the age of death in a population. Lowering the top end of age of death because of these numerous "centenarians" may well push Hong Kong into first.
Where there is "free" money there is always people willing to do anything to get it.
Kind of like having a 2-D character around isn't it? Don't have to feed it, take it out shopping, make dinner for it or buy it presents. So is this the original idea of the 2-D persona?
Maybe it costs the Japanese government less to pay out fraudulent pension claims than it does for them to fund (yet another) large, ineffective bureaucracy to *check* on pension claims.
They could just perform autopsies like we barbarians do.
@ Anon 20:09 :
The issue here is not *how* the elderly have died, it's *whether or not* they have died.
Checking the death records vs the list of people claiming pensions would be the obvious thing to do.
Presumably, most people fraudulently claiming their parents' pensions aren't keeping their deceased parents as mummies in a bedroom, and have not buried them in the back yard.
Though, if the economic tough times continue, that might change.
Have a doc check the elderly once a year. Not only can you do something about diseases earlier, you know if they still breathe or not. ^_^
That picture is bad-ass
what a bunch of lazy ppl....
after the elder ppl die, the way they respect it, is by fake the death and take the money...
way to go japan.....
Lately Japan has so many crazy stuff happen that only keep japan sink deep and deeper
LOL
This kinda shit happens all the time. Across the board, not just in Japan. Its really not shocking or crazy, do to how common it is.
wow, quess i still have much to learn^^
bout how crazy and corrupted the world is
"...across the board"
I never knew the Earth is flat, lol.