Designer Norico Kamata shows off some of her designer canes.

Designer Norico Kamata was working in the fashion industry four years ago, when a sudden illness left her in the need of a cane. She found that while of functional design of canes made in Japan are excellent, it was difficult to coordinate them with fashionable apparel. She launched her original brand, Norico, to fill that need. Her canes can be accented with Swarovski crystals and crocodile skin, and cost between 56,000 yen ($560) and 120,000 yen ($1,200), and custom order models are available. The canes are available at high end department stores such as Takashimaya and Mitsukoshi.

Recently eyeglass shops and drug stores in areas with a large amount of pedestrian traffic have begun selling canes from display stands in front of the shops.

The Astalift series of cosmetics from Fujifilm.

2008 saw the release of a number of popular cosmetics lines targetting women in the 50-60 range. A craze for foods with high collagen content believed to have beautifying effects began in 2007, and in 2008 a number of collagen-based cosmetics went  on the market.

One popular brand is the Astalift series of lotions, creams, and cleansers developed by Fujifilm, who applied their techniques of nanotechnology and collagen used in their photographic film products. The brand launched at the end of 2007, and expanded in the spring of 2008. Television ads feature 56-year-old Japanese folk singer Miyuki Nakashima.

Television ads for Astalift feature 56-year-old Japanese folk singer Miyuki Nakashima.

Keywords in this market niche are “moisture” and “elasticity,” with popular products claiming to restore moisture to skin, and elasticity in the skin around the mouth.

Shiseido’s Elixir Prior brand, launched in November, targets women in their 60s. Rather than boasting “anti-aging” properties, advertising for Elixir Prior focuses of “aging beautifully” and promotes an image of active older women. Kanebo’s new line of Chicca foundation and eye shadow is designed to suit the complexion and skin tones of women in their 60s.

The Elixir Prior brand from Shiseido promotes an image of active older women in its advertising.

Johnny Depp gives his views on parenting.

An unfortunate stereotype holds that Japanese fathers are workaholics with no time for their children or outside interests and no fashion sense. That is all changing if a slew of popular magazines have anything to do with it.

A number of recent “dad mags” offer advice to 40+ fathers on how to be fashionable, cool, and in touch with their kids. The monthly glossy “Free & Easy” offers fashion and lifestyle articles for older men, alongside interviews with the likes of Tommy Lee Jones and Dennis Hopper, as well as historic pictorials featuring Steve McQueen and James Dean.

Throw out that polyester windbreaker and get a beat-up bomber jacket for the weekend, gents! “FQ”, which bills itself as “the essential dad mag,” is equal parts fashion pictorial, car and gadget report, and parenting advice. Each issue features a cover interview with a celebrity pop such as Ewan McGregor or Brad Pitt on a single topic: parenting.

A recent entry to the market is “Rock Dad,” which encourages Japanese baby boomers to dig that old electric guitar out of the closet, tune up, and rock out.

Keith Richards is rocking past 60, and you can too.

While there are countless guitar magazines introducing the latest hits in Japan, “Rock Dad” features interviews with rockers who have been at it for decades, such as Carlos Santana or Eric Clapton, and includes sheet music to classic hits by Ozzy Osbourne and Jimi Hendrix. You’re never too old to rock n’ roll.

Sugamo is known as a haven for the elderly in Tokyo.

Here is the true face of modern Japan, the most aged society in the world. In Sugamo, far from the streets of futuristic Shibuya is Jizo Dori, a shopping area popular with the elderly and in its own way, a glimpse of Japan’s future. People under the age of 50 stand out in a sea of grey heads, many in wheelchairs, who visit the area to buy health food and cheap clothes, and pray at the neighbourhood temple for a healthy life. Signs for AED defibrillators are a common sight and that bastion of youth, Hello Kitty, is even featured with her bespectacled grand parents.