Almost 40,000 people died alone in their homes in Japan during the first half of 2024 and in many cases, their bodies weren't discovered for a month, according to a National Police Agency report. What can communities do about this?

Sad, it really is.

This is not about communities it's about FAMILY connection, when kids drop their parents, when family ties are broken down this is what we get.

Communities can come up with their own associations and mechanisms. I've seen it on Japanese tv, where a village of elders would put up flags in front of their homes daily whenever they wake up to show to their neighbors they're still well. In apartment complexes, it would be easier. People can just check up on their neighbors. I think this is the time where the Japanese should become more sociable with their neighbors and do away with the "not being a bother to others" mindset.

We have a resident chairman and various people who collect various monies and local taxes. Generally, people look out for each other. We all know what our immediate neighbors are doing.

You read about rural communities where single old folks put out some sort of sign every morning to indicate that they are up and about.

In my suburban neighbourhood, my mother-in-law is one of several volunteers who frequently check in on the elderly in their homes, in a program facilitated by the city. I think the elderly people they visit have opted in to the system.

Has happened at least 4 or 5 times in the building opposite my school.

Single elderly men, cheap lodgings.

I have two houses so when I die, the neighbors will just assume I am in the other house and it will be a long time before they find me unless the dog makes a fuss.

A symbol of modern Japanese society in many areas. Never talk to strangers, neighbors. Many friendless socially inept loners who at least died without ever offending anyone so succeeded in their life goal.

Daily visits or presence confirmation, complete surveillance, implanted signal chips etc are the alternative. Sorry, but in a still free society I don't want all or any of that and just accept such high numbers of late or never discovered bodies, including a possible own lonely undetected death with long rotting and developing smells.

I personally would like to go at my own time, before it gets to that stage.

Many women think if they get married they won't have to die alone. Husbands die much sooner than wives, in the end women die alone. Japanese women are realizing this, why suffer a husband for 40+ years when you will end up dyeing alone in the end.

Even the latest observational study concluded, women get no plusses from marriage, while men get a somewhat longer lifespan and happiness boost.

Government hate this truth they've been able to conceal up to recently.

"Almost 40,000 people died alone in their homes in Japan during the first half of 2024 and in many cases, their bodies weren't discovered for a month, according to a National Police Agency report. What can communities do about this?"

This is really sad, community interaction is not only essential but required 4000 is one too many to be considered a rare case. I remember in early 2000, though not their job the mailman/ woman used to keep an eye on the elderly and in case mails keep on piling up they used to contact neighbors and the authority. What happened people?

Old already and not minding dying any day now, I still have a social life, so if I die it won't be long before I'd be found. Still, being old and alone and dying only to be found weeks later is sad. Here in the US as mail and newspapers pile up, many old people (not as many as Japan) are found weeks later, too. Anywhere, though, it's sad when this happens.

More than COVID deaths in 2020 and 2021... Stay home, save lives...