Jun Hongo reports:
The government may look into revising the Personal Information Protection Law if some of its provisions are stopping municipalities from ascertaining the status of “missing” centenarians and other pension recipients, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshito Sengoku hinted Thursday.
“If (the law) is impeding the investigations by local governments, we need to consider our options,” said Sengoku, touching on the rising number of unaccounted-for people who, if still alive, would be over 100 years old.
As of Thursday, there were at least 45 “missing” centenarians.
Last week in Tokyo, the mummified corpse of a man was found after it was believed he was still alive at 111 years old. The man appeared to have passed away more than three decades ago, but family members didn’t report the death and continued to collect his pension. Then there was the case this week of a Tokyo woman who, if still alive, would be 113 but no one can recall when she was last seen, although her daughter registered the two as living together in 1986.
Read more in the Japan Times.
Katsuki Honda and Shinichiro Matsuda also report on the issue in the Yomiuri Shimbun.