ABSTRACT
Changing lifestyles and living styles are influencing how Japanese people approaching old age anticipate and organize their lives. Although most people of this age imagine themselves belonging to an ie (household) and thus root their plans in the family, the family as system (ie seido) is no longer the decisive factor when people plan how to live as elderly. This includes, among other patterns that differentiate them from previous generations, Japanese elderly today no longer rely on their children as main anchors for their lives after retirement. Instead, the de facto obligations and preoccupations of children concerning their elderly parents have become rather theoretical and tend to concentrate on some time in the far future, when one parent dies or becomes seriously ill. These changes in the perception of family lead to new ways of organizing households and families. Aging parents, often upon consultation with their children, are imagining diverse possibilities for post-retirement, such as relying on friendship networks, sharing houses, and creating two generation households, and their plans are based on what is most suitable for each generation.
