Rent a grandma
As we’ve seen time and time again, the cost of living is steadily on the rise in Japan, and while it’s expected that wages will rise to keep pace, the same may not be true for the elderly living on pensions. Because their monthly allotments are just barely covering the necessities in life, many seniors are seeking work to ensure they have some savings as well. According to the Statistics Bureau of Japan, there are about 9.3 million people, about one in four seniors, remaining in the workforce after retirement age. The rapidly ageing population has contributed to its severe demographic crisis, with births falling below 690,000 for the first time last year, 15 years ahead of predictions, the health ministry announced last month. This all sounds pretty bleak, but one service is seeing this as a positive. The service is called “OK Obaachan,” and for a fee of about $23 to cover transportation and a $23 yen per hour rate, you can have your very own grandma. They currently have a roster of about 100 ladies aged 60 to 94 and with a range of abilities from housework, interpersonal skills, historical knowledge, and life experience.
According to the OK Obaachan website, they have been getting a lot of requests for an incredibly wide range of uses, such as teaching how to cook, mediating family disputes, writing things with nice penmanship, and babysitting. They are often also called upon to act as pillars of emotional support. A report by ANN News also interviewed some satisfied clients who used rental grandmothers to be present when breaking up with boyfriends or to help with research for reports that deal with changes in Japanese society over the years. Reaction to the news was mixed in online comments, which is understandable since it’s really hard to process a grandma rental service just after hearing about it.
“Wanting income” was the main reason cited by more than half of older Japanese workers, while only 15.8 per cent said they were working because they found it interesting or fulfilling. “Grandma rental” services have caught on in Japan, providing an alternative source of income for the country’s ageing population. Japan’s “rent-a-family” industry has garnered attention in recent years, with rental services available for ossan (middle-aged men) as well as stand-in girlfriends and boyfriends. I just popped into their website, and they have many age-appropriate granddads who appear to be among the most popular men for rent. So, whatever your people needs are, it seems there’s a rental agency out there for you. Of course, you could just go out and meet people too, but time is money, so I guess it’s all relative.
Granny Grins:
A scammer called my grandma and said he had all her passwords.
She got a pen and paper and said, ‘Thank heaven for that, OK, tell me what they are.’
Grandma Sofia really likes Skype.
”It’s such a wonderful invention! We get to have guests, but we don’t need to feed them!
Daughter: “Mom, what’s it like to have the greatest daughter in the world?”
Mother: “I don’t know dear, ask your grandmother.”
Everyone was seated around the table as the food was being served. When little Johnny received his plate, he started eating straight away. “Jonny, wait until we’ve said our prayer,” his mother reminded him.
“I don’t have to.” – the little boy replied.
“Of course you do.” – his mother insisted. “We say a prayer before eating at our house.”
“That’s at our house,” Johnny explained, “but this is Grandma’s house and she knows how to cook.”
July 9th Birthdays
1996 – Georgie Henley, 1984 – Miriam Isa, 1997 – Meg Delacy, 1965 – Courtney Love
1956 – Tom Hanks, 1942 – Richard Roundtree, 1954 – Kevin O’Leary 1978 – Jesse Watters