An increasing number of people in Japan are living alone, and a lot of them are men with flimsy ties to their community.
Many are elderly and isolated, lacking any support, or are still in the working population but have delayed or shunned marriage only to find they are now facing the unwitting prospect of growing old alone.
Indeed, Japan is in a predicament where it needs to create a social security network that stretches beyond family as the basic household unit of society.