Aging Japan. We hear this phrase all the time. The question is, what are they talking about — the infrastructure? The people? Four Roses whisky?

Everything ultimately ages. Even newborns age. So perhaps to defy "aging Japan," we need people who age younger, or at least slower. Maybe we should look to the insect world. In the vast insect world, there must be an insect that is born old and gets younger with age. But even if we do find an insect elixir, do we really want to get younger? If we don't get older, we'll never get wiser.

Despite the problems with aging Japan, it seems like being elderly is the "in" thing to be. Old people have pensions, they travel, they're healthy. They climb mountains. In the meantime, the young people are looking for jobs, making paltry incomes and scraping by.