Hello everyone,

I hope you enjoyed your two days off. Monday was a national holiday called “敬老の日”, or “Respect for the Aged Day”. It is a holiday that started in 1966 and it is a chance to think about the older people in our lives.

In Japan this holiday is becoming more important every year. Yesterday it was reported that one in five people in Japan are over 70 years old. Japan has the oldest population in the world, and it is only getting older. This is important for you to think about.

In the future, jobs that help old people will become more in demand. It is easy to imagine jobs like nursing being more important. But really, all of society will change with an older population. Someone who can design barrier-free buildings, improve hearings aids, or think of better safety designs on cars will be as important as nurses.

So, this day is not only a day to say “thank you” to your grandparents, but this is also a day to think about the future, and how we can all be a positive part of it.

Have a great day, enjoy that beautiful blue sky out there!

Allen