Commentary: Steak mousse and a vibrating sofa – the impact of Japan’s ageing has become more dramatic

Tonally, however, this year’s show marked a distinct and important shift.

Until now, the subjects of “advanced elderly” care were for the most part Japan’s prewar generation. This cohort undoubtedly enjoyed many of the benefits of the country’s postwar economic resurgence and subsequent economic “miracle”, but were never entirely defined by those forces. 

GROWING OLD IN GOOD TASTE AND VANITY

The huge incoming wave of advanced elderly, though, was precisely defined in that way.

And you can now clearly discern the idea that standards and salesmanship should be raised to meet the combination of good taste, vanity and faddishness that made the baby boomer generation what it is.

At the show, health supplements and beauty products for the over-75s abounded; large crowds gathered around a vibrating sofa based on technology to help returning astronauts. It will supposedly wobble the user to better physical and mental health. 

Food was a significant feature but with a striking emphasis on preserving the appearance of the high life, while accommodating the realities of age, infirmity and the fact that accidental inhalation of food or drink now ranks just behind heart disease and senility among the top killers of Japanese. 

Highlights included a range of mousses, carefully crafted and flavoured to look and taste like a juicy steak or a succulent fillet of mackerel but requiring no chewing. The country’s biggest producer of green tea has developed a no-choke formula for its top-end matcha. One of Japan’s largest sausage makers had diversified into elegant tea cakes, petits fours and other dainties designed for the toothless gourmet.