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The story
A joint survey by Nikkei and Nikkei Research found that 70% of men and women aged 20 and over would rather have professionals handle their care than rely on family, with that figure climbing to 80% when it comes specifically to diaper changes. Over half of respondents also said they would not be the “primary caregiver” for their own parents. Reactions on a 5ch thread split along personal lines — some saw the results as simply common sense, while others raised worries about poor pay and staffing shortages in the care industry, or about how to prepare for old age with no family to rely on.
“I’d rather leave my own care to professionals.” That’s how 70% of men and women aged 20 and over feel, according to a joint survey by Nikkei and Nikkei Research.
For diaper changes specifically, the figure reached 80%.
Meanwhile, over half of respondents also said they would not be the “primary caregiver” for their parents.
Source: nikkei.com / Original article here
What people said
Unfortunately, in old age it's more likely to increase. Colon cancer is common among Japanese people, and chronic diarrhea is a side effect of the chemo drugs used to treat it, so the odds of it increasing actually go up.
People have been saying this for ages — just cut a hole in the bed under the anus and you're set.
How about just eating once a week?
Installing a robot at home would cost way too much. Guess facilities will just line up beds like a factory assembly line instead.
I bet you'd still need human hands just to get that robot set up and ready to use.
Apparently it takes serious money to get dumped into a nursing home. So the people in there were actually rich.
Honestly, less than half the people in care work even deserve to be called "pros." It's just a landing spot for people who couldn't get hired anywhere else — plenty of small-time operators will hire you the second you show up for the interview.
– Caregiving really begins the moment you want to kill your parent.
– Caregiving isn't about protecting your parent — it's about protecting your own life from your parent.
– Caregiving is a death match: either the parent dies or you collapse first.
– Anyone crying at the funeral never actually did the caregiving.
I doubt any parent wants to be cared for by a son or daughter who thinks like that, either.
Yeah, I hear that a lot. Guess it's because you can't treat it as "just a job" when it's your own parent, so emotions take over.
This is exactly the kind of task that's hard to automate, though.
Well, eventually everyone's going to have to just put up with that — there won't be anyone left to take care of it.
My grandpa's just being left to deal with it on his own.
Re: #30
Poop: "Just a fart."
Anus: "All right, pass through!"
…and disaster ensues.
With dementia, you mistake it for a fart and end up pooping yourself — I always wondered why there was poop on the floor.
I really feel that. I honestly wish humans were built so that once you can't wipe your own ass anymore, you just ascend to heaven like Raoh (the Fist of the North Star warlord who dies standing tall, with no regrets).
Plenty of people wear diapers and still walk around just fine, though.
Well, it comes full circle — assuming you actually get married and leave kids behind, that is.
The article's saying people don't want their spouse or kids to do it even when they have them.
Honestly, being left alone sounds like a good thing — at least it means no caregiving hell for anyone.
Sometimes people go easily, but surprisingly often they just don't die that easily.
Everyone's struggling with this precisely because they didn't die before reaching that point — and dying neatly before you get there is apparently pretty hard to pull off.
A care manager will work something out for you within what long-term care insurance covers.
This article isn't about people with no family. It's about people not wanting their own family to care for them — and not wanting to care for their own family, either.
True, there's the muscle-strength case (basically bedridden, needs diapers) and then there's the dementia case where they just can't find the toilet anymore.
You get used to wiping up crap eventually. But nothing's as rough as dealing with dementia — the urge to "go home," the paranoia about stolen belongings, it's just impossible to keep up with.
Background and key points of this discussion
Japan’s long-term care insurance system is built around the premise of the care recipient’s own “choice,” yet chronic staffing shortages and low pay in the care industry have long been flagged as persistent problems. What stood out in this survey was a shift in attitude among care recipients themselves — from “relying on family” to “relying on professionals” — with reliance on professionals running especially high for tasks involving close physical contact, like diaper changes. The thread split between those who saw this as simply a “natural division of labor” and those who argued “you should clean up after yourself,” a self-responsibility stance that was often tied to anxiety over poor treatment and pay in the care profession. On the question of preparing for old age without family to rely on, opinions ranged from pointing to institutional supports like care managers, to a resigned acceptance that one will simply be left alone — showing this isn’t a topic that breaks down into simple right and wrong. Worth noting: the figures cited in the article (70%, 80%, over half) all come from the original survey, and should be kept separate from 5ch posters’ own impressions or speculation.
*This article is compiled as an excerpt/summary from the 5ch (Breaking News+) thread “80% Want Pros Handling Diaper Changes in Their Own Old Age — the Shift Away from Family Caregiving Becomes Clear.”
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