A rapidly aging population is a common phenomenon for most developed countries. This is especially true in Japan, where it is estimated that by 2040, a third of the population will be over 65. This impacts various public policies such as social support system, infrastructure design and reduced tax revenue due to a shrinking work population. Along this trend, the government is keen on promoting an active and healthy elderly population.
In this blog post, let’s look at Wakamiya Masako, a local role model for aging wisely, and what advices she can offer to the younger generation.
who is Wakamiya Masako 若宮正子
I first came to know Wakamiya-san in NHK’s Active Seniors show, where she appeared with other seniors who are proudly working into their 80s and above. Deeply inspired, I began to find out more about her. She becomes my new role model on how to keep learning and approach everyday with zest.
government advisor
Born in 1935, Wakamiya Masako is hailed as the oldest iOS app developer, featured by Tim Cook in the 2017 WWDC. Besides her programming pursuit, she is an expert on the Japanese government’s “Council for Designing 100-Year Life Society”, advising policymaking to support continue learning and working into their 100s. These include abandoning the required retirement age in many companies, creating new roles so that senior staff can act as coaches for newcomers, and making work requirements more flexible. In fact, recent data show that 1 out of 7 workers in Japan is over 65.
tech evagelist
A self proclaimed ICT (information, communication and technology) evangelist, she is a sort-after speaker who delivered over 100 annual talks around Japan. She spoke in TED talk, on active living in UN Commission for Social Development in February 2018, and was interviewed by Taiwan’s Digital Ministry on motivating the elderly to stay active, live meaningfully and contribute to the society. She also speaks about how to build a more inclusive, mixed-age workforce. According to Wakamiya, one advantage of a mixed-age environment is to let the younger generation visualize the bright side of aging. Through directly interacting with energetic people like her, they understand that aging is not the stereotypical gloomy, disabled stage of life. When she was interviewed during her attendance at WWDC, she said that the young had no positive image of getting old. Her hope is that by living life enthusiastically and engaging in exciting projects with others, she can leave behind a rich legacy and reference of a rewarding old age. Another advantage is passing on skills and craftsmanship that take years to accrue. She proposed incorporating mechanical innovations such as drones in construction so that senior carpenters could work longer and pass down their experiences.
how she got into coding?
meeting Tim Cook in the 2017 WWDC
Wakamiya bought a computer at 58 to stay connected with the world while looking after her mom at home. As she said, her real life began at 60, as jumping into the digital world opens a brand new chapter/adventure for her. First she joined a forum for seniors, then she started designing intricate art patterns with Excel (she even prints her own patterns for clothing, handbag, etc.). She then broadened her scope by leading community computer workshops, and learnt to play piano at 75.
She started to tinker with the idea of developing a mobile game at 81, because all existing games require fast reflex that seniors lack. Rather than petitioning game developers to make games for her generation, she rolled up her sleeves and learnt programming to create the iOS game Hinadan herself. This is very much her nature, by being independent and doing things that needs to be done. The game was picked up by a national newspaper in Japan, then CNN approached her to develop it into a story that ran amok worldwide. The news gradually made it to Apple and then Tim Cook, who wanted to see her in the 2017 WWDC.
These days, she hopes to revisit the fundamentals of programming and create more apps that make learning about Japanese culture fun. She fully embraces the latest innovations including using AI speakers to assist home tasks, vaccum robot to take care of cleaning when she is on a speaking tour, VR, ChatGPT, etc. For her, everyday is an adventure, filled with new activity, people and places.
Wakamiya’s attitude towards life
a life of learning
Wakamiya with her latest gadget. Photo credit: NHK Digital Magazine
When people praise Wakamiya for showing “courage and determination” for picking up coding at 81, she was astonished. To her, the whole life is for continuous learning. When she wants to do something, she will start immediately. She doesn’t waste time thinking about this or that, or worry about failure. As she says, If you don’t enjoy it, you can stop at anytime! When you code, no one will die from your failure! When you are still hesitating, I have already completed my task!
In this era, not learning has real consequence of daily life. A lot of our daily processes such as banking, ordering takeout, filing tax, buying tickets, etc. are digitalized (some are even exclusively digital without an offline version). Not being able to perform these tasks digitally means being blocked out of performing daily functions. Sensing this urgency, Wakamiya is very enthusiastic in both boosting digital literacy in seniors, and advising both public and commercial product developers to prioritize elderly accessibility.
Many people have imminent fear when they break into new grounds, or leaving their comfort zones. Wakamiya has broken many glass ceilings after her retirement. Starting from a clean slate as a programmer, she explained that since she didn’t know what she didn’t know, she overcame this unknown-unknown black box by talking to many programmers. In the NHK interview the secrets of learning, she shares that,
- it’s never too old to learn something new
- due to her active and connected lifestyle, she is well connected to experts in different disciplines and can quickly ask for advice when she is interested to start a new project
- never say no to any invitation, as one invitation leads to new connections, which leads to the next adventure
- a life without failure is a boring life
- heartbreak, failure, layoff, etc., are all fertilizers for a rich life
- whether something is a failure depends on how you view it. She rather views all as experiences and lessons
- she once learnt and quitted dancing, but used the gained knowledge to enjoy kabuki shows better. As she said, nothing is wasted. Everything can be a fertilizer for something else
- it’s important to digest and age (mature) the knowledge you gain, to become your personalized experience so you can share with others
Another benefit of learning that she shares is that it balances out the “minus” that comes with age (such as losing spouse, job, health, accessibility) with the plus, which is acquiring new skills. In fact, her plus extends to learning about different perspectives that she was not aware of previously, when she was criticized online. This is her own way to deal with online bullying and growing out of it.
In The way to learn in the 100-year life, she shares that “the entire earth is your classroom and everyone is your classmate, keep learning till 100!”.
Wakamiya is truly a lifelong learner, and her living examples serve to nourish a growth mindset in others including myself.
an action-based lifestyle
Wakamiya is very much an action-focused person, a trait I admire very much. Her motto is first, let’s start! and now, let’s try!. She resonates with elderlies in Estonia where digital technology is widely used by the elderly population to carry out public services. For Estonian elderlies, “trial and error” is their approach, something she found starkly different from the Japanese who are often very cautious with new things. In coding as in other pursuits, she always has a “do it first, it won’t harm anyone” attitude, never procrastinates but starts immediately without “thinking too much”. When she sees a problem, she will jump right in to learn how to solve that herself. But if it is beyond her scope, she is not shy to ask for help, because as she says, when you have a vision, you will assemble resources to make it happen.
In addition to keep learning (which promotes the growth of new neural paths), I think another reason for her longetivity is her burning curiosity. She views every new thing she comes across as interesting, and as she says, “curiosity makes me jump quickly to try new things, I don’t make walls to shut out unknown worlds.” For her, maintaining motivation is crucial for senior living.
Her frank and open communication style also seems to endear her to younger people, whom she often mix with. Here’s one quote on how she handles mobile phone accessibility issues, when she discussed possible solutions with Tim Cook during WWDC:
We should not simply say, ‘We do not use smartphones because they are difficult.’ We should tell younger developers why we cannot use smartphones – they will want to hear it.”
what I learnt
In Wakamiya’s eyes, life gets better with age. From her talks and interviews, she seems to truly enjoy her time and every challenge. In the AI era, she feels that it’s imperative to keep being creative and connected with others, as it is what distinguish humans from machines.
She once compares folder people (people who are deep in a hierarchy and always define themselves using job titles of a company) vs hashtag people (people who have multiple identities and can float seamlessly from one to next). To me, she is a great example of a hashtag person, one who has such a colorful lifestyle that it’s just impossible to anchor her down into a fixed genre. She is moving into different roles so elegantly, like what she aims for to “live in different roles till 100”.
What she values most in her life is the gambari spirit regardless of age, and I think that’s the legacy she leaves behind for us to savor. Together with other senior role models, they teach us a precious lesson that aging isn’t something to be feared but celebrated, and perhaps even look forward to. Thank you so much, Wakamiya-sensei!