Dr. Shigeaki Hinohara

Age Esteem at 101 Years

Dr. Shigeaki Hinohara, Japan, turned 101 on 4th October 2012

Shigeaki Hinohara is one of the world’s longest-serving physicians and educators. Hinohara’s magic touch is legendary: Since 1941 he has been healing patients at St. Luke’s International Hospital in Tokyo and teaching at St. Luke’s College of Nursing.

He has published around 15 books since his 75th birthday, including one “Living Long, Living Good” that has sold more than 1.2 million copies. As founder of the New Elderly Movement, Hinohara encourages others to live a long and happy life, a quest in which no role model is better than the doctor himself.

I received this message in an e-mail and find it well worth sharing. I researched to find that Dr. Hinohara was lecturing in August of this year and probably still continues. He is a model of age esteem for all of us.

Bonnie Fatio

Japan is the second oldest society in the world, and fastest aging.  But many Japanese are now growing old and dying alone.  Despite a culture that heavily emphasizes respect for the elderly, 3.86 million Japanese seniors are now living alone, many of whom are separated from or ignored by their families.

Where Japanese families traditionally lived with three generations under the same roof, that has become less common in the country’s crowded cities, especially as seniors now often live long enough to see their great-grandchildren.  There’s not enough space for families to live together any more.

The government expects that within five years, more than a quarter of its 127 million citizens will be 65 or older.

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