Missing Centenarians Revive Concerns About Japan's Flawed Pension Records
The disappearance of some of Japan’s oldest citizens is raising concern that some families are bilking the nation’s pension system even as others risk being deprived of payments for the same reason -- poor record keeping.
Officials in Tokyo are searching for the whereabouts of Fusa Furuya, listed as the city’s oldest woman, who would be 113 years if alive, after it came to light last week that Tokyo’s oldest listed man likely died more than 30 years ago. In 2007, the government came under fire after the welfare ministry lost millions of files related to the government-led pension system, stirring concern that citizens in the world’s fastest-aging nation might not receive payments they were due.
The incidents highlight Japan’s problems with tracking people eligible for social welfare benefits. The latest record- keeping mishaps turn the problem on its head, allowing the deceased to continue receiving monthly allotments.
“It is impossible to keep a check on who is alive or dead, unless somebody registers a person’s death,” said Midori Kotani, a senior research director at Dai-Ichi Life Research Institute Inc. “The pension system is founded on the premise that people are good, not that they kill family members at home, and bury them.”
The whereabouts of at least 18 Japanese centenarians are unknown, the Mainichi reported today, citing a survey by the newspaper. Japan’s Health Minister Akira Nagatsuma yesterday said the government would ensure all pension recipients aged 110 or older are still alive, the report said.
Japan’s centenarian population has more than tripled to 40,399 in the last decade, the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare said in a statement last September. Eighty-seven percent of them were women, the Health Ministry said in a statement.
Individuals who reach the age of 100 receive a silver cup and letter of congratulations from the prime minister, according to the Ministry. A total of 21,603 Japanese residents turned 100 in the 12 months to Sept. 1.
Deaths Concealed
Family members of a man who was thought to be Tokyo’s oldest concealed his death for about 30 years, according to a Kyodo News report last week. The man, whose remains were found mummified in the house where he once lived with his daughter, received about 9.5 million yen ($111,000) in pension payments when his wife died six years ago, Kyodo said. About 2.7 million yen was withdrawn from his account last month, the report added. The man would have turned 111 last month if he were still alive.
The daughter of Furuya, the missing woman, has continued to pay medical premiums for her mother, according to Kyodo. The local government of Suginami, where Furuya is registered resident, has yet to confirm her whereabouts, according to Hiroshi Sugimoto, a spokesman for the district.
The location where the daughter thought Furuya was residing with her son turned out to be a vacant lot, according to Sugimoto.
The average lifespan for Japanese men and women reached a record last year, with men living an average of 79.59 years and women 86.44 years. Japanese women have the longest life expectancy in the world, according to the ministry.
The problems come as more Japanese have to rely on social welfare even as the government seeks to pare spending. The number of working poor reached 6.41 million in 2007, according to a report by Aya Abe, a director of the National Institute of Population and Social Security Research in March.
To contact the reporter on this story: Finbarr Flynn in Tokyo at fflynn3@bloomberg.net
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