[nostrademons]

Japan's eldercare system has been held up recently as something Western nations should aspire to, but the reality is complicated:

https://www.historyandpolicy.org/policy-papers/papers/the-ca...

Basically - having supportive family take care of you is great, when you have supportive family. Not everyone does. Even in Japan, with a long Confucian culture, they had problems with elder care being too much for younger family members; with elderly being neglected and left to fend for themselves; and even with elder abuse and homicide. Now try applying that to America, where the social fabric is frayed, the norm since WW2 has been for children to move away from their parents in adulthood, and many people don't even have functioning intergenerational relationships at all.

[fomine3]

Looks good thesis. supportive family is important factor. In 1990 to around 2015, Japan had been in notorious deflation, so there were no enough jobs for everyone, hiring women full time wasn't popular in early 90s (especially for not young people), and full-time housewife was somewhat popular. That's part of why supportive family existed. Now it's time to inflation finally, salary haven't increased much so women need to go work, we understand that we might live long and pension may become poor so retiring age is increasing, and worker shortage is now becoming a serious problem. Family support model no longer work.