The Yomiuri Shimbun - (Aug. 16, 2010)
People aged 100 or older who were unaccounted for as of Saturday numbered at least 242 throughout the country, a nationwide tally by The Yomiuri Shimbun has revealed. The count was based on information obtained by the newspaper's networks nationwide through local municipal governments based on resident registry data. The 242 unaccounted-for centenarians were reported in Tokyo, Hokkaido and 18 other prefectures, spanning a total of 52 cities, wards and towns.
The local entities concerned so far have finished checking the registry data of 78 people of the 242 listed, specifically whether the residents were registered as living with their families or alone. A majority of the 78 people--42--were described in the registries as "living with" kin such as spouses and children, while the 36 others were registered as living alone, the Yomiuri tally showed. Many families of the 42 centenarians listed as still living with their kin were quoted as saying in response to questions by municipal government officials that the centenarians had left home and the families subsequently had no idea of their whereabouts.
Information on the whereabouts of the remaining 164 of the 242 unaccounted-for centenarians either are being investigated by local governments or withheld by them. With the authorities of many local governments still continuing confirmation of the centenarians' whereabouts, indications are that the number of "missing" elderly people will increase further. The nationwide Yomiuri survey was conducted to tally the counts of centenarians who do not live in the locations registered as their "current" residences and whose whereabouts and means of contact are unknown by relatives.
Those aged 100 or older whose resident registrations have been redacted at the discretion of local authorities due to lack of evidence of residency were included in the tally on this occasion, but those whose deaths have been confirmed were excluded. Topping the list by prefecture of unaccounted-for centenarians was Hyogo with 108, followed by Osaka with 66, Kyoto with 20 and Tokyo with eight. By municipality, Kobe had the largest figure at 102, followed by Osaka with 45 and Kyoto 18. No "missing" centenarians have been confirmed in 27 prefectures, including those in the Tohoku and Hokuriku regions.
Among the unaccounted were a woman in Kobe who, if alive, would be 125, a woman in Osaka who, if alive, would be 119, and a man and woman who, if alive, would be 115 and 119, respectively, in Higashi-Osaka, Osaka Prefecture. The nation's oldest confirmed living person is a 113-year-old woman in Saga Prefecture, according to the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry. The latest survey brought to light the existence of 20 or more unaccounted-for people who, if confirmed alive, would be the same age or older.
35 foreign elderly 'missing'
In addition to the 242 Japanese listed on the survey, it was found that 35 non-Japanese centenarians with foreign resident registrations were similarly unaccounted for in Tokyo and five other prefectures. By prefecture, such foreigners numbered the most in Osaka Prefecture at 22, followed by Tokyo and Hyogo Prefecture with four each. One of these foreigners, a man in Kiyose, Tokyo, who, if alive, would be 104 years old, was found to have been missing four years ago, when an official of the city government visited his home to hand him a congratulatory gift on the occasion of his 100th birthday, but his foreign resident registration had been left unchanged, the municipal government said.
