230,000 Japanese centenarians ‘disappear’

MORE than 230,000 Japanese citizens listed in government records as at least 100 years old can’t be found and may have died long ago, according to a government survey released yesterday.

In August, the justice ministry ordered a review of records that found about 77,000 people who would be at least 120, and 884 people who would be 150 or older.

The head count followed a flurry of reports about how elderly people are falling through the cracks in Japan as its population ages rapidly and family ties weaken.