The shelf · Japan
Does Ohitorisama no Rōgo (Living Alone in Old Age) hold up?
Ohitorisama no Rōgo (Living Alone in Old Age), by Chizuko Ueno (2007)
A sociologist's practical guide for women facing old age alone, covering housing, money, care and friendships. A long-running bestseller in Japan.
The short answer
Yes. Japanese women live about six years longer than men, so most end up alone whether or not they married.
The claims, checked
The longer people live, the more everyone ends up alone, married or not.
Holds Japanese women's life expectancy is 87.14 years and men's 81.09. The 2020 census counts 6.94 million widows aged 65 and over against 1.41 million widowers.
Evidence: Report of MHLW and census figures
About 80% of Japanese women aged 80 and over have no spouse.
Holds with conditions The 2020 census shows 54% of women aged 75 and over widowed. Adding never-married and divorced women makes about 80% at 80 plausible; the exact table was not retrieved.
Evidence: President Online, on the 2020 census