Aging throws up many challenges, but the problems can often be compounded if you choose to spend your final years thousands of miles away from your home country.
This is the situation faced by a growing number of Japanese — often women who have married European men — who have decided to make Europe their permanent base.
Itsuko Toyama, a professor of intercultural studies at Momoyama Gakuin University in Osaka, has just conducted a large survey into aging among hundreds of Japanese expatriates in Britain.