Japanese Seniors Aim to Breakdance Until They're 100
The next time you see a group of kids breakdancing on the sidewalk, you might want to take a closer look — because they might not be kids at all!
Over the last year, a new group of breakdancers has been meeting twice a month at a community center in Tokyo's Edogawa ward.
And the members' average age is just below 70!
The group is called Ara Style Senior, and the idea came from Reiko Maruyama, now 71, who's on the ward's committee for supporting older adults.
She had been speaking to a son of one of her friends: Yusuke Arai, a breakdancing teacher who has won competitions in both Japan and Taiwan.
She told him that, since breakdancing — or "breaking" — was becoming an Olympic sport at the Paris Olympics, it would be a good time to get older people in Edogawa ward to try it.
At first, Maruyama was the only senior student. But when Arai said she should join a public performance with the children he teaches, she didn't want to be the only older person on the stage — so she invited another elderly woman to join.
"I think it's great that you can laugh, dance and stay healthy, and that's why I recommend it to people around me," Maruyama told Reuters.
Ara Style Senior now has about 15 members.
"Of course, we can't do anything extreme," 69-year-old Hitomi Oda told Reuters. "But it’s fun just to do the easy moves and get the body working."
"I bet I can do it until I'm 100," said 74-year-old Kiyoshie Sarukawa, who also teaches traditional Japanese dance.
Senior breaking is one of many activities keeping the elderly moving in a country where nearly 30% of people are 65 or older — giving it the world's oldest population, according to the United Nations.
