There are even people who say they will pay 20,000 or 30,000 yen if they can live here forever

End-stage capitalism in full progress.

End-stage capitalism in full progress.

Neither socialism nor communism ever progressed…only deteriorated into a brutal mess of starvation and mass murder

This has to be one of the saddest things you will read this week. Lonely old dears willing to pay to stay in jail. The causes and reasons will be complex, nuanced, cultural and deep. There was a reason Japan felt the need to open a Ministry of Social Isolation and Loneliness.

Why living with good manners and paying? The bigger the next crime the higher the probability of getting a next stay and then even for free. lol

Yes, it's not funny, but it shows how paradox that whole topic is.

Excuse my naivety but wouldn't 20,000 a day pay for an old people's home, at least some kind of basic one for the able-bodied? There are alternative solutions to loneliness and isolation than prisons.

Excuse my naivety but wouldn't 20,000 a day pay for an old people's home, at least some kind of basic one for the able-bodied?

The quote is not complete but this refers to an amount paid monthly, not daily. According to official numbers it is way below what is necessary:

https://www.nippon.com/en/japan-data/h02170/expenditures-on-nursing-care-in-japan-reach-%C2%A511-5-trillion.html

The average cost per care recipient (as of April 2024) was ¥201,300 for nursing care and ¥27,900 for preventative care.

Women's prisons are run much better than the men's.

Video

I went to a Women's Prison in Japan

https://youtu.be/pvKretBLYOM?si=gyyrOjHj1inkonVE

Old people's homes are for the elderly. Prisons are for women 20-90.

The estimated daily expenses per inmate were approximately 2,179 yen.

The cost to the taxpayer of prisons is enormous. It is silly for someone to think that 30000 yen a month would be a fair sum to voluntarily stay in one. Just as it is silly for parents paying 30,000 a month for a hoikuen to look after their baby to think that they are paying what the service costs. The real cost is ten times that.

The cost of running prisons in Japan is covered by the government and includes the cost of food, housing, and clothing for inmates. In 2022, the budget for penal institutions was about 197.7 billion yen, with an estimated daily cost of 2,179 yen per inmate.

The cost to the taxpayer of prisons is enormous

Not really, ~2000 yen per day everything included is not that much. Specially because there is not such a huge number of prisoners in the country. Only 0.15% of the spending.

It is silly for someone to think that 30000 yen a month would be a fair sum to voluntarily stay in one

The quote never says the people offering it think is fair, maybe this is only what they would pay for the quality of life inside the prison, or what they can afford.

Does Japan not have retirement homes and community centres where the elderly can go to mingle and socialise? I mean paying to stay in prison seems a bit extreme.

Nobody is saying that Japan has a 3rd world Pension level, with the smallest pension ammount of all developed countries, and it's not even an exagerration.

The Pension system in Japan is completely broken and even people who worked for 1 million Yen/moth, are receiving a ridiculously low ammount of pension after retiring. In any other country, the people would go out and protest for those ridiculously low pensions, but in Japan, everybody is so passive and "Shoganai" like, even if you become instant poor when you retire.

It's unbelievable.

Maybe offer "air bnb " service to the prison....company for the elderly ladies, relief for over stretched hotel accommodation and an unusual "Japan experience " for the world weary traveler.

Plus chance of some romance.

Could work

Congratulations to the LDP on creating a society where people would prefer to be incarcerated than live in freedom. Something is rotten in the state of Japan.

Congratulations to the LDP on creating a society where people would prefer to be incarcerated than live in freedom. Something is rotten in the state of Japan

Oh wait! Let’s ‘unpack’ this one.

I think you’ll find the idea of prisoners becoming institutionalized isn’t a new phenomenon nor particular to Japan.

I don’t think you’ve read a lot about this one.

@wallace

wallaceJan. 24  12:47 pm JST

Women's prisons are run much better than the men's.

Video

I went to a Women's Prison in Japan

https://youtu.be/pvKretBLYOM?si=gyyrOjHj1inkonVE

Thanks for the link! I was going to ask about the womens vs mens prison conditions because I have read on JT about how rough it is in mens prisons. Very good video.