Seeing the old in a new light?

In Japan, the Polar Orbis company makes cosmetics, including a very expensive anti-wrinkle cream used mostly by aging housewives. To prove the cream works, the company employs thousands of senior workers, including 250 in their 90s. Some serve as "beauty directors" who establish long-term relationships with customers. Recently Polar Orbis hired their first hundred-year-old employee!

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Japan is the most rapidly aging nation in the world, with 61,000 centenarians. That's the population of Daytona Beach, FL, and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe calls the silver tsunami a bonus, not an onus. He wants to turn people's sliver years into gold for the economy as people reject out-dated concepts about what it means to be old. Unlike many nations where seniors are seen as burdens to be shelved and ignored, Japan celebrates Respect for the Aged Day each year. This year, it was on September 21. Did you send your folks a card?