The elderly and economics

A pensioner’s suicide has meaning for us all.

Time flies Louise Morse

A shocking self-immolation by a pensioner has highlighted the despair of many older people in Japan’s cities. A few minutes before Haruo Hayashizaki of Suginamihe poured petrol over himself, the 71-year-old called his landlord to say that he could not pay his rent. He had previously told his sister that he didn’t have enough money to live on, adding: ‘Do they just want us old ones to drop dead quickly?’