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Tokyo is the starting point for trends in Japan, and one of the city’s trendiest neighborhoods in Shibuya. So in a way it’s very fitting that Shibuya Ward wants its elderly residents who are still stubbornly using flip phones to hurry up and upgrade to smartphones, and the local government is even going to foot the bill for them to do it.
Shibuya has announced a plan to provide 3,000 smartphones to senior citizens living within the ward by this September. The reason for the initiative isn’t embarrassment at seniors’ outdated tech tarnishing Shibuya’s fashionable image, though. Increasing tech literacy among older Shibuya residents has been a goal since 2019, when powerful typhoons hit the Tokyo area. Local authorities found that seniors without smartphones had difficulty getting updated information on evacuation and sheltering warnings, since the newest notices were being posted online as situations developed.
The coronavirus pandemic is adding another reason Shibuya wants its seniors to switch to smartphones. An increasing amount of government paperwork which used to require in-person visits to government offices can now be done online, and seniors taking care of such matters through their smartphones cuts down on the number of people standing in lines, waiting in lobbies, and otherwise crowding around each other for extended periods of time.
The first year of the two-year smartphones-for-seniors initiative is expected to cost around 365 million yen, which will go not just towards procuring and loaning the phones to elderly residents, but in setting up programs to teach them how to use the devices, which will come preloaded with health and disaster information apps. In addition, the government will be covering all calling and data plan costs for the seniors’ phones, though seniors themselves will assumedly still be responsible for any additional charges they incur such as mobile game item purchases or adult video site memberships.
Sources: Mainichi Shimbun via Livedoor News via Jin, Yomiuri Shimbun
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© SoraNews24
13 Comments
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gaijintraveller
Shibuya has announced a plan to provide 3,000 smartphones to senior citizens living within the ward by this September.
Why aren't we told how many senior citizens actually live in Shibuya?
ReasonandWisdomNippon
Good news. Glad to hear the government is doing more.
Help for younger Japanese struggling, would also be appreciated.
SandyBeachHeaven
A. Shibuya is not Tokyo. The headline is misleading.
B. What about all the other elderly that already have smart phones? Can they fill out a form and get their plans paid for as well?
C. What is considered elderly for this? Age 60 when your business wants to fire you or rehire you at one third the money you were making? Those do not ride bikes on sidewalk signs that say age 72 and above may ride on the sidewalk? The sign at a movie theater that says age 62 and above are discounted? Or seniors 63 and above living in this district with proof from a drivers license?
Way to vague.
JeffLee
Then give them AM radios. The internet goes down during large-scale disasters from congestion. Am broadcasts do not. And radios are hundreds times cheaper. The 100 yen stores used to sell them. But hey, gotta spend that ward tax revenue! My local tax just keeps going higher, higher, higher, and no wonder.
My smartphone alarm didnt go off last night during that very strong earthquake. Useless.
albaleo
According to the link below, there are about 44,000 residents aged 65+.
https://www.citypopulation.de/en/japan/tokyocity/13113__shibuya_ku/
Sven Asai
That’s just only to trick them, for enabling them to spend more using several cashless payments, probably pre-installed as you can read above between the lines, that’s all very easy, but they will lose the overview of the amounts , and in a sudden, the money for the phones gifted comes back multiplied in merits for businesses and taxes. If it was for safety information on weather, earthquakes and such, you are right of course, a simple pager or AM radio would have done, or for tech literacy a cheap 10inch tablet, to keep their eyes more healthier.
dagon
So the many wealthy seniors living in Shibuya ward smartphones are going to be financed by the tax revenues from the many younger freelance and service workers who share residence in the ward.
This type of regressive wealth distribution is a good thing in an aging society?
1glenn
Seems like a good idea to me. Interacting on the smartphone keeps one in the loop as to what is going on in the world, and helps keep the brain working.
itsonlyrocknroll
Smartphones to senior citizens,
All the right and admirable intentions.
The wonderful gentleman in the photo might need some additional assistance.
My late grandmother, end up using her phone as a paperweight.
Mark
""though seniors themselves will assumedly still be responsible for any additional charges they incur such as mobile game item purchases or____( adult video site memberships)"". Really? LOL.