A coffee shop in Aichi Prefecture has begun catering to older people with dementia, creating a welcoming community for customers, their caretakers and the children given a chance to wait on them.
At Anki Cafe in Toyohashi, named after the regional dialect word anki, meaning relief, no one is bothered even if a customer bursts into song or wanders aimlessly around the shop — behaviors related to the illness often considered too disruptive to be acceptable in regular society.
"When my mother chats with her friends, she seems so happy," said Eiko Hosokawa from Gamagori in Aichi Prefecture. The 59-year-old has cared for her 83-year-old mother, who has dementia, almost single-handedly for a decade.