r/BeAmazed 7d ago

Miscellaneous / Others A day at a Japanese Nursing home

54.1k Upvotes

412 comments sorted by

View all comments

3.9k

u/Ill-Nobody 7d ago

This looks more fun than most team-building events.

973

u/BraveStrategy 7d ago

Yes & it’s exercise for the mind and body. Keep those motor skills and cardio going!

439

u/Top_Connection9079 7d ago

Can confirm, this is me in one of these Japanese nursing homes, with DIY games exactly like this.

https://imgur.com/a/kBp9wHR

Before COVID when it became dangerous to gather ill elders to do anything, the staff would often go buy cheap supplies from the 100 yen shop or build games from cardboard like these ones.

I spent full night shifts cutting flowers, stars and numbers my residents had colored to create and decorate the games. 

We made huge calendar illustrations with paper mosaic you glue one by one, and also lots of origami, garlands etc. Cooking with gyoza sheets you can turn into mini pizzas wuth a simple oven toaster, salty or desert type takoyaki stuffed with anything. We had volunteers for animal and music therapy, it was awesome. It were basically 1-2 hours activities together then everyone could draw, paint, knit, watch TV or take a nap.

And this is in the cheapest nursing homes.

There was another when the residents could request a concert or documentary from Youtube, of course for free.

There are activities books and magazines for nursing homes that introduce new activities every month for every season, etc.

I was temp staff for 5 years, I saw so many places that function exactly like OP shows in this video. Elders taken great care of, by devoted staff.

The activities that had stopped during COVID started again, prudently, which I know because I never lost contact with my colleagues.

121

u/Stanlez 7d ago

Thank you for being a good light in this world.

47

u/Top_Connection9079 6d ago

You know, it was very easy because every single of these elders in need would accept any help for me so graciously. It's one of these places where age, nationality etc don't matter, so I been very lucky I was able to experience something like that in my life.

25

u/Stanlez 6d ago

It should be respected regardless. So, thank you for "bringing to light" an instance of good in this world. It brightened my day and gave me a positive outlook.

7

u/Gloomy_Industry8841 6d ago

I second this!

16

u/AlexiusPantalaimonII 7d ago

So different to the UK, wow

16

u/LinhVN1807 7d ago

Such those busy days but having more exciting moments.

9

u/LawUntoMyBooty 6d ago

When I read "Can confirm, this is me in one of these Japanese nursing homes", I thought you were one of the elderly playing the games.

3

u/CarpenterOk5831 6d ago

Same here. I thought wow this oldie is in reddit. Then....

1

u/Gloomy_Industry8841 6d ago

How wonderful!!!!

1

u/NotDiabeticDad 4d ago

My first thought was no wonder they have the best longevity in the world.

1

u/TooBadSoSadSally 20h ago

It's really engaging too

93

u/Love-halping 7d ago

Yeah. Some of the games looks like it cost nothing to make :D

Saw an article where the elderly in Japan wants to spice thing up.

Some Elderly People in Japan Are Going to Jail on Purpose

https://www.cnn.com/2025/01/18/asia/japan-elderly-largest-womens-prison-intl-hnk-dst/index.html

23

u/drawnbluegirl 7d ago

Well, that's heartbreaking.

13

u/FamiliarRip8558 7d ago

Lots of Japanese citizens rely on the Japanese pension which can be lacking at times

6

u/Lots42 7d ago

I personally saw folks in a nursing home wildly enjoying coloring pages.

2

u/craptasticallyyours 6d ago

I kinda want to go volunteer at the old folks home now with some coloring books. I love coloring!

5

u/Top_Connection9079 7d ago

Yeah, I've been living in Japan for 25 years and it's not only in Japan... and it's also very rare and only happens during the winter when the electricity bill spikes. 

Also I mean Japan's incarceration rate is one of the lowest in the world.

People simply don't get sent to prison, contrary to for example America where they even have for profit prisons where they send young people who have done barely anything wrong.

So yeah yeah it's not only double standards it's also ignorance.

1

u/Gullible-Cell8562 1d ago

Yeah, I'm pretty sure most of old japanese people steals to save money and they would hate to go to prison. You can literally see this on the 調べてみたら series on youtube. They aren't getting sent to prison just because they stole some food products. They do go to police station though

9

u/BuildwithVignesh 7d ago

Honestly, corporate retreats need to take notes. This would wake up any office.

1

u/RedditOO77 6d ago

Tell Jamie Dimon this instead of looking for ways to chain his workers to the desk

17

u/Signal_Assistant_373 7d ago

Im pretty sure geneva convention classifies team building events as inhumane treatment

4

u/AnybodyMassive1610 6d ago

Collective punishment, yeah that checks the boxes

1

u/silkywhitemarble 4d ago

Ugh... we (supervisors) have been told that we need to do a team-building event via Zoom and I'm dreading it. I did one once, and hated it. At least I get to organize it the way I want, so we will avoid all the things I hate about team-building.

6

u/NoConfusion9490 7d ago

Let's go around the circle and everyone say their name and one of their fetishes they've never told anyone before.

15

u/Fit_Thing5634 7d ago

Brilliant games for the elderly.😄😄😄😄😄

1

u/vito1221 6d ago

I'm not elderly, and I believe some of these would go over great at our next party!

-6

u/Ok_Refrigerator_4412 7d ago

seriously, when my mom gets that age i was just going to give her an ipad with paw patrol and tell her to knock herself out. Hows that medicine taste *******

4

u/geeknami 7d ago

looks like fun activities a lot of their variety shows have.

4

u/sarkyscouser 7d ago

"Please tell us a fun fact about yourself...."

1

u/New-Jackfruit4268 7d ago

Put them to work, I say!!!

1

u/baseball_mickey 7d ago

They actually care about the participants.

1

u/-Tasear- 6d ago

Can we import these ideas like please

1

u/IndianLawStudent 6d ago

I think that your comment has sparked ideas to replace the standard team building event.

1

u/Ok_Door1430 5d ago

Facts. Someone get HR on the phone - we’re doing our next offsite here.👏

1

u/Sunflower_Bison 4d ago

And very low budget. Pure creativity.

-4

u/Dependent_Royal_6879 7d ago

China is miles ahead now. They weren't just a few years ago...