"Just what is good health," a wise man once told me, "other than the slowest way to die?"
Viewed from that rather "unhealthy" perspective, longevity may not be the living end many people think it is.
Japan as a nation is squinting this idea in the eye these days as its population grays faster than a politician's grasp of right and wrong. As everyone wrings their hands and wonders how Japan will ever pay and care for its increasing ranks of geezers, they also fret over whether they will survive long enough to join those ranks themselves.