BLAME IT ON THE OLD: IN JAPAN, AND IN THE U.S.?

"AS JAPAN STRAINS TO

CARE FOR ELDERLY,

SACRIFICES BEGIN"

-- Washington POST

ON THE GINZA, TOKYO, 1981

KIMONO-CLAD

ON THE GINZA 1981

CLOSE-UP

Forgive me for feeling a little jaundiced, but I have heard this before, the American version, when I sat or kneeled through the Washington, D.C., hearings on Social Security, which just had to be fixed. It was. This was back in the eighties.

(Photographers, or at least tall ones, had to sit or kneel on the floor to keep out of the line of sight of the hearings' participants.)

Since the Washington POST chose to illustrate its current story with an AP photograph of an elderly lady making her way down a street in Tokyo (see here), I thought I would head this posting with a photograph of someone who might have been that lady, three decades earlier (see above). Back in the eighties.

As I was reading the sad story in the POST, a variation on a Kris Kristofferson song, "Blame It on the [Rolling] Stones," played itself in my head. With a tip of the hat to Kristofferson, a fellow service brat -- you can listen to his version here, and hum the melody -- I give you BLAME IT ON THE OLD.

Blame it on the [Old]; blame it on the [Old]

You'll feel so much better, knowing you don't stand alone

Join the accusation; save the bleeding nation

Get it off your shoulders; blame it on the [Old]

And then get to work again.