Bloomberg BusinessWeek, Mar 10, 2013 (1)

choi

(1) Kanoko Matsuyama, In Japan, the Rising Cost of Dying Alone.
http://www.businessweek.com/arti ... are-and-dying-alone
("In 1980, 53 percent of people older than 65 in Japan lived with their children, according to Japanese health ministry data. In 2010 that proportion was down to 18 percent")

Note:
(a) summary underneath the title in print: The breakdown of tradition has economic consequences
(b) summary in Table of Contents: Old and alone in Japan
(c) Kanoko MATSUYAMA  松山 かの子
(d) Itoko UCHIDA, where the surname is 内田.
(e) The report mentions "Hiroshi TAKAHASHI, a professor of health sciences at the International University of Health and Welfare in Otawara, north of Tokyo"
* 高橋 紘士/ 国際医療福祉大学 (private)
* 紘: 古通“宏”，宏大. 汉典, undated.
http://www.zdic.net/zd/zi/ZdicE7ZdicBAZdicAE.htm
* Ōtawara, Tochigi  栃木県 大田原(市)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C5%8Ctawara,_Tochigi
(Ōtawara Castle was built in 1545 and it prospered during the Edo period (1603-1867) as a castle town)

Japanese Wiki states Sukekiyo ŌTAWARA 大田原 資清 (1486-1560) built 大田原城.
(f) "National Institute of Population and Social Security Research in Tokyo."

国立社会保障・人口問題研究所
http://www.ipss.go.jp/index-e.asp
(g) The report says, "Annual elder care costs will more than double by 2026, to 19.8 trillion yen ($212 billion), from March 2013, the health ministry 厚生労働省 estimates."

CIA World Factbook (2013) about Japan shows Budget:
"revenues: $2.025 trillion
expenditures: $2.57 trillion (2012 est.)"
(h) Four-leaf Clover Association  NPO法人 四つ葉のクローバー協会
www.4clover.org
* クローバー is pronounced "kuro-ba-," where the hyphen denotes long vowel (in Katakana). (In comparison, in Hiragana, a macron signified a long vowel.)
(i) "Katsuyoshi KAWAI, professor of social welfare at Meiji Gakuin University and the author of the book Seniors Living Alone in Urban Cities and Social Isolation."
* 明治学院大学 福祉学科  河合 克義
http://soc.meijigakuin.ac.jp/hukusi_gakka/?p=1005
("『大都市のひとり暮らし高齢者と社会的孤立』（単著）法律文化社、2009年11月")

hitori ひとり (n): "one person"
kurashi 暮らし 【くらし】 (n): "living"
* 明治学院大学 (a private Christian University; established in 1863; co-founder James Curtis Hepburn (1815-1911; American); in Tokyo and Yokohama)
(j) "In metropolitan Tokyo, officials in Adachi ward are * * *"
* Adachi, Tokyo  東京都 足立(区)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adachi,_Tokyo
* The ward name came from Adachi District, Musashi Province 武蔵国の足立郡
(k) Toshie KURITA, where the surname is 栗田.


(2) Dorothy Gambrell, America's Shrinking Grocery Bill; Food prices.
http://www.businessweek.com/arti ... inking-grocery-bill

My comment: Upon coming to US in 1984, right away I could tell an American family or individual spends far less on food then the courterpart in Taiwan.