ABSTRACT
It is easy to overstress the pains and difficulties of the aged. Indeed, despite popular stereotypes, the general view emerging in the literature on the elderly in Japan (Linhart, 1981:14; Palmore, 1975:6, 32; Office of the Aged, 1981) offers a contrasting picture. The vast majority of the country's older citizens - like the elderly in other advanced-industrial democracies (Tornstam, 1982: 188; Maddox and Wiley, 1976:14, 38)- are on the whole healthy, well integrated socially, and have good relations with their families. A prime reason for this situation seems to be the existence, throughout the country, of a host of organizations and associations for old people. These provide for many individuals frameworks for initiating social contact, pursuing sport and leisure activities, and creating networks of self-care and mutual help. These organized groups are formed, for example, by trade unions, large firms, political parties, universities, or religious movements (Linhart, 1981: 12-13). But by far the most numerous and important of these organizations are the old-folks clubs. Among the hundreds of such clubs in Otsu City are the two roojinkai of Hieidaira and Yamanaka.
