http://www.thehindu.com/2007/10/15/stories/2007101571952200.htm
Old men and the mountain
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Boom in activities for the elderly
Increasing affluence is another factor
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TOKYO:
Yuichiro Miura has an unusual routine for a man who just turned 75.
At dawn, the veteran adventurer wakes up after a night in a private low-oxygen
chamber. He straps weights onto his ankles, hoists a 44-pound backpack onto his
shoulders and hikes for hours around Tokyo. Sometimes he adds a stroll on his
treadmill.
Ask Mr. Miura why he isnt on the golf course or puttering around a vegetable
garden, and he has a simple answer Mount Everest.
Mr. Miura is one of Japans old men of the mountain, a small cluster of
graying Japanese climbers who since 2002 have been passing among themselves an
august title: the oldest person to have conquered the worlds tallest peak.
Its a tough but wonderful thing to get to the peak when you are past 70,
Mr. Miura said. I hope to send the message that we have the potential for many
things in this aging society. Mr. Miura is already famous for having skied
down Everest in 1970, a feat captured in an Oscar-winning documentary. Now, for
seniors like him, climbing the 8,850-meter Himalayan peak is as extreme an
elderly activity as they come.
The country has the worlds longest-living population and is going through a
boom in activities for the elderly.
Mr. Miura scaled the peak in 2003, at 70, but was eclipsed by fellow Japanese
climber Takao Arayama, who scaled the peak in 2006, just three days older than
Mr. Miura was when he did it. Now Mr. Miura wants to reach the top again.
It feels like the goddess of Everest is beckoning me to come back, said Mr.
Miura, who is planning an assault on the mountain next spring, when hell be 75
.
Some attribute the prevalence of Japanese adventurers among the ranks of older
climbers to the same factors that make them live increasingly longer: a diet
heavy in vegetables and fish, excellent health care, and trim physiques.
Another factor in play is increasing affluence. Money brings world-class
equipment, expert assistance , and state-of-the-art training.
Mr. Miura says setting a record isnt all that important, since someone else
will surely come along and break it. Instead, he said, Its about discovering
what I can do. AP
Umesh Sharma
Washington D.C.
1-202-215-4328 [Cell]
Ed.M. - International Education Policy
Harvard Graduate School of Education,
Harvard University,
Class of 2005
http://www.uknow.gse.harvard.edu/index.html (Edu info)
http://hbswk.hbs.edu/ (Management Info)
www.gse.harvard.edu/iep (where the above 2 are used )
http://jaipurschool.bihu.in/
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