As Japan prepares for a peak in retirement of baby boomers in 2007, an increasing number of older people are taking an active interest in cooking or music as a means to enjoy their lives in retirement.
Cooking and music courses are gaining popularity in parts of the country, some of them offered by organizations such as the Better Home Association and music instrument maker Yamaha Corp.
Those taking lessons include elderly people in their 80s, indicating some retirees are making an active effort to get out and enjoy their lives instead of staying home and simply getting old.
Many products of Japan’s first postwar baby boom between 1947 and 1949 will hit retirement age in 2007.
The Better Home Association offers cooking courses to middle age and older people in Tokyo and other places in the country.
A group of about 30 men, including those in their 50s and 80s, in a relatively advanced course received a lesson on making beef stew, Caesar salad and dessert crepes in the association’s headquarters in Tokyo’s Shibuya district.
Wearing aprons and bandannas in a variety of colors, the men broke into groups of four and appeared serious, deftly handling their kitchen knives. They grilled pieces of meat in frying pans and boiled them in pots.
They followed the teacher’s instructions and seemed to get along well with each other.
As they proceeded to prepare the food, a delicious smell filled the room.
The association started holding men-only cooking lessons in various parts of the country in 1991. Initially, 350 men took advantage of their service.
The number now totals more than 5,500, with those in their 50s and 60s accounting for the most of that number.
Last year, it also began holding cooking sessions for men aged 60 and older to highlight the objective of teaching cooking lessons to older people ahead of the start of the baby boomer generation’s mass retirement.
Midori Miwa, the association’s public relations director, said those aged younger than their 60s are also eligible to take lessons, adding that many in their 50s attend courses held at night and on holidays.
She said participants become friends regardless of their jobs and titles.
Yamaha started offering beginner music lessons to persons aged 50 or older in the spring of 2004.
This program followed the instrument lessons it has been giving to adults since 1994.
Masaru Sumi, chief of Yamaha’s music planning office, said his company planned and launched the new program designed exclusively for persons older than 50 because there had been rapid growth in the number of middle age and older people taking its instrument lessons in recent years.
In what appears to be a plan aimed at baby boomers, Yamaha offers instruments for beginners so that they can come empty-handed to receive lessons. Also, instead of giving one-on-one lessons that some may consider stiff and formal, Yamaha teaches participants in groups.
It has 11 courses comprising a variety of wind and string instruments. About 60 percent of the participants are picking up their instruments for the first time. They are not required to be able to read music. Lessons are held twice a month and completed in three months.
Sumi said the company is considering offering programs featuring songs of the Beatles and the Ventures.
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