Japanese living longer than ever

May 26, 2010

TOKYO - JAPANESE people are living longer than ever, with the average life expectancy now a world-record 86.44 years for women and 79.59 years for men, the health and welfare ministry said on Monday.

Japanese women extended their life expectancy by more than four months in 2009 from the previous year, while men added some three months.

Japanese women's longevity set a world record, followed by 86.1 years for women in Hong Kong and 84.5 years for French women, said the ministry.

Japanese men's average life expectancy came fifth globally, compared with 81.0 years for men in Qatar, the world's highest, followed by Hong Kong, Iceland and Switzerland, the ministry said.

The Japanese people are renowned for their longevity, attributed in part to a healthy diet, active lifestyle and good health care.

But the long life expectancy is also set to cause problems for Japan, which has one of the world's lowest birth rates, leaving a shrinking working population to support a growing mass of retirees.

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My opinions: The main point of the article is that Japan has a long life expectancy,which is 86.44 years for women and 79.59 years for men, and they experience an ageing population.

According to the UBS report, using United Nations data, found that four of the world's 10 fastest ageing populations are in Asia. Japan is in the No. 2 spot, followed by Singapore, South Korea and Hong Kong.

The challenge of ageing is a shrinking workforces and the increasing need supporting the elderly.

However, the healthcare sectors like hospitals, medical equipment makers and drugmakers would benefit, and Life insurance and asset management firms should also get a boost from a growing need for wealth management for retirement.

Also, old people are skilled and knowledgeable and they should be allowed to work if they are healthy, as some of them can be productive in the workforce too.

Smoking toddler

Indonesia's smoking toddler cuts back to 15-a-day
A chain-smoking Indonesian toddler has cut back to 15 cigarettes a day thanks to "therapy focused on playing", a child welfare official said Tuesday.

Two-year-old Ardi Rizal shocked the world when a video of him smoking a cigarette appeared on the Internet last month and drew attention to Indonesia's failure to regulate the tobacco industry.

Six months after his father gave him his first cigarette, the overweight boy from Sumatra island was smoking 40 a day and threw violent tantrums if his addiction was not satisfied.

Despite local officials' offer to buy the Rizal family a new car if the boy quits, his parents feel unable to stop him because he throws massive tantrums if they don't indulge him.

His mother, Diana, 26, wept: 'He's totally addicted. If he doesn't get cigarettes, he gets angry and screams and batters his head against the wall. He tells me he feels dizzy and sick.'

Child welfare officials called in to try to wean the toddler off cigarettes said that when they played with him he did not smoke as much.

"The boy has been able to reduce his cigarette intake significantly, very quickly, after the treatment," National Commission for Child Protection chairman Seto Mulyadi told AFP.

"The therapy focused on playing -- we occupied him with toys so that he forgets cigarettes," he said.

Ardi developed his nicotine addiction while spending his days at a traditional market where both of his parents worked, Mulyadi said.

Simple toys and someone to play with were enough to take his mind off cigarettes, at least for a while. The therapists also encouraged Ardi to associate cigarettes with bad things.

"The boy likes singing songs so we tell him that if he continues smoking, he won't be able to be a singer one day, and it works," Mulyadi said.

"It's much easier to help kids like him than teenage tobacco addicts."

Ardi's case has highlighted the tobacco industry's aggressive marketing to women and children in developing countries like Indonesia, where regulations are weak and many people do not know that smoking is dangerous.

Cigarette consumption in the Southeast Asian archipelago of some 240 million people soared 47 percent in the 1990s, according to the World Health Organization.

Indonesia's biggest cigarette manufacturer, PT HM Sampoerna, is an affiliate of Philip Morris International.

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I was quite shocked when i first read this news.

Ardi Rizal's father gave him cigarette at the age of 1 and a half year.

I think that the main cause that Arzi, the 2-years-old toddler who smokes, is his father. If his father did not introduce him this, how would the toddler be able to smoke? If his parents did not pay for the cigarettes for him, how would he be able to smoke (40 cigarettes a day)?

From this, I would say that his father is very irresponsible person because he "introduced" cigarettes to Ardi.. How would a 2 year old know about the consequences about smoking?

Ardi might be healthy now but who knows what will happen in the future?

Some harmful effects of smoking:
1)Heart attacks
2)Strokes
3)Cancer
4)Emphysema, an illness that rots your lungs gradually
5)Stomach ulcers
6)Amputation because of blocked arteries etc

If Ardi is a teenager, he would know about the consequences of smoking and if he still smoke, at least that is his decision and he would bear the consequences himself, but definitely a two-year-old would not know much about health.

Hence, I think that Ardi's father should reflect on his actions and try to do his best to help his son quit smoking as soon as possible.
This is a video of Ardi.