[bpodgursky]

There's some evidence that much of the reason the Japanese are so "long lived" is just pension fraud by surviving relatives: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/15/world/asia/15japan.html

[contingencies]

Hahahaha. Awesome. I'd never heard of that, but based upon observations of the same elsewhere I'd lend it credence. I certainly didn't see loads of super old people in Japan on my (month long) trip, even in places they might traditionally be found (high ranking Buddhist monasteries) but perhaps that was just the places I was hanging out (rural north of Kansai, Kansai).