Respect for the Aged Day and Dementia Day — Where Can a Person Live When They Can No Longer Stay Here?September 21, 2026 (Monday) Day 25 of my hospital stay

Today is Respect for the Aged Day in Japan.

When I woke up this morning, I first read the Ehime Shimbun and took screenshots.

The front page reported that people aged 65 and over now account for 29.6% of Japan's total population, the highest percentage ever recorded. The number of employed people aged 65 and over has also reached a record high of 9.43 million.

However, what caught my attention most today was the short editorial-style column called "Jijiku" below the main article.

It was about an 86-year-old bodybuilder, Tadao Saito, who lives in Niihama City, Ehime Prefecture.

Saito is living with dementia and has been aware of his condition for more than ten years. Yet he continues bodybuilding and recently won third place in the over-85 category at the Japan Masters Bodybuilding Championship.

One sentence in the article particularly stayed with me:

"My body can be changed. But dementia cannot be changed."

Dementia can cause anxiety and confusion, especially in the evening. A person may lose track of time or place. Last year, Saito became lost for two hours in Niigata, where the competition was being held.

Even so, he did not give up.

He writes down his daily schedule.  
He decides where to keep things.  
He maintains a morning-oriented lifestyle.  
He continues his training.  
He arrives at competition venues early.  
He adjusts his environment so that he can continue living peacefully on his own.

And he is already aiming for next year's competition.

His attitude is to live today as fully as possible for tomorrow.

Today, September 21, is also Dementia Day in Japan. Under the Dementia Basic Act, September is designated as Dementia Awareness Month, and September 21 as Dementia Day.

Reading this article today made me think about many things.

Yesterday, I had a conversation with a female occupational therapist who was taking care of me.

I asked her whether male patients ever flirted with her or touched her without permission.

She said that it hardly ever happened. Perhaps one reason is that there are relatively few male patients in their 40s and 50s. She said that many of the men she works with are able to talk rationally, listen to her, and accept the support they are offered.

Then she said something like,

"But the elderly men are different."

I couldn't help laughing.

I wondered, "At what point does someone become an 'old man'? Is it when reason disappears and instinct takes over?"

That conversation reminded me of something else.

In this hospital, smoking is prohibited. Apparently, there was once a patient on this ward who could not stop smoking and secretly smoked on the small balcony used for hanging laundry.

Of course, it was hardly a place where he could really hide.

He was warned once. Then it happened again.

Eventually, in simple terms, he was told that he could no longer continue his hospitalization.

I also remembered something I had heard in Shizuoka.

There was a care worker who was a very good swimmer and whom I used to swim with. She often talked about being called during the night to provide toileting assistance.

She said that one resident, who did not seem to need quite so much assistance, would expose his genitals and try to get the care worker to touch him.

If such behavior becomes severe and continues, a care facility may have to ask the resident to leave.

Of course, protecting nurses and care workers is important.

People who work in hospitals and care facilities should not be expected to tolerate sexual harassment simply because the person has dementia or another condition.

Hospitals and care facilities have a responsibility not only to protect their patients and residents, but also the people who work there.

But then I came to another question.

"Where does that person go?"

If a rehabilitation hospital cannot manage the behavior, and a care facility cannot manage it either, what happens next?

Does the family have to take responsibility?

But families have limits too.

And what happens if there is no family?

I understand that hospitals and facilities need rules in order to protect other patients and staff. Smoking in a hospital, for example, can create serious risks. Sexual behavior toward care workers cannot simply be ignored.

At the same time, however, the person himself or herself should not simply disappear from society.

That is the difficult part.

We need to think about two things at the same time:

Protecting the person.

And protecting the people around that person.

Having dementia does not mean that a person's life itself has disappeared.

Reading about Saito, the 86-year-old bodybuilder, made me feel that very strongly.

Even with dementia, there are things a person can work on.

There are things a person can continue doing.

There can still be goals.

A person can even continue competing in bodybuilding competitions.

At the same time, dementia can sometimes cause behaviors that a person has difficulty controlling.

We cannot simply tell the person, "Control yourself."

And we cannot simply tell everyone around the person, "You must understand."

So what should society do?

That is what I found myself thinking about after reading the newspaper this morning.

Respect for the Aged Day.

And Dementia Day.

In a Japan where people aged 65 and over make up 29.6% of the population, and where 9.43 million people aged 65 and over are still working, perhaps simply saying "We should respect older people" is no longer enough.

Anyone can grow old.

Anyone may develop dementia.

When that happens, we need to think not only about what a person can no longer do, but also:

What can this person still do?

How can we help this person live in a way that is true to who they are?

How can we protect the safety of the people around them?

And if they can no longer live in their current hospital or facility, where can they go next?

I may someday be the person who needs someone else's support.

That is why, while reading the newspaper this morning on Respect for the Aged Day, I found myself thinking:

"People do not come to an end simply because they can no longer do certain things.

Perhaps one of society's responsibilities is to think about where, and how, a person can continue to live when they can no longer manage on their own."

That was what I was thinking about this morning.

Now, it is time to change gears.

Today I plan to review Questions 1–20 from the 2024 Registered Sales Clerk Examination, and then move on to Question 21 and beyond.

The morning of thinking about society through the newspaper is over.

Now it is time to study medicines.

September 21, 2026.  
Day 25 of my hospital stay.

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