TOKYO: An employment agency only for people over 60 is rare enough.
But the staff at Koureisha, founded eight years ago to find jobs for the elderly, are themselves all over 60, including company president Kenji Ueda who is 70 this year.
NOT FOR MONEY
'I go out to work to keep myself healthy. I also get to meet a lot of people.'
Being old is often regarded as a handicap by people looking for work.
But Mr Ueda made 'elderly' his firm's selling point, beginning with the company's name.
'Koureisha', which consists of three 'kanji' or Chinese characters, not only sounds exactly like the three-character Japanese word for 'elderly person' but also shares the two characters that mean 'elderly'. But instead of 'sha' meaning person, the third kanji in Koureisha means 'company'.
'At first we thought the name might be bad for our image. But we found that it makes a big impact on people and they have no trouble remembering it,' said Mr Ueda.
Since its opening in January 2000, Koureisha has grown from a pool of 80 senior workers to close to 300 at present. They are almost all retired men over 60 and are available for temporary jobs such as training instructors, repairmen, safety inspectors and after-hours telephone operators.
Employers like the fact that Koureisha does not charge them more for having its elderly workers labour on weekends and holidays, unlike young Japanese who expect to be paid extra for doing so.
Neither do the elderly workers complain.
'To a retiree, every day feels like a Sunday,' quipped Mr Ueda.
To keep his costs down, and also to make his workers attractive to potential employers, he pays them only 1,000 yen (S$15.60) per hour. Although this is low compared to what they used to earn in their prime, most no longer work for the money.
Said Mr Sakura Watanabe, 70, who works three days a week: 'I go out to work to keep myself healthy. I also get to meet a lot of people. And I can also stay in touch with what is happening in society.'
But, according to Mr Ueda, who was speaking from personal experience as well, wives are probably his company's greatest fans.
The typical Japanese wife is initially excited when her husband retires and the couple can start doing things together, like going on long-postponed trips abroad.
But she soon realises that it also means having to cook three meals a day for her husband.
'After three to six months of such a life, the wife wants her freedom back,' said Mr Ueda.
At the same time, the husband also feels bored at home and wants to get back into a working environment.
'My wife encouraged me to go back to work. She said she didn't want me hanging around her all year long,' said Mr Genzaburo Kumamoto, 69, who works 10 days a month.
The opportunity to make some pocket money is a source of motivation too.
The typical Japanese husband hands over his entire pay packet to his wife and gets an allowance from her in return. The practice continues even when the husband receives a monthly pension.
But since pensions are usually far smaller than pre-retirement wages, his allowance shrinks.
Elderly workers with Koureisha make from 80,000 yen to 100,000 yen a month but do not hand this over to their wives. Instead, they spend it on things such as golf games, drinking sessions with the boys or presents for the grandchildren.
A former employee of giant utility company Tokyo Gas, Mr Ueda initially recruited retired ex-colleagues for part-time openings at his former employer or its subsidiaries.
That saved on training costs since the ex-Tokyo Gas workers were well-equipped with the knowledge required for their new jobs.
These days, Koureisha also offers jobs with electronics and other firms.
As Japan's population ages, Mr Ueda sees a growing demand for jobs for retirees. Currently, Koureisha's oldest worker is 79 and there are 12 who are over 75.
His company has seen its sales grow nearly 10 times since 2003 to reach a projected 300 million yen this year.
As an incentive, staff and registered workers get to share part of the profits.
According to a government survey, about 30 per cent of Japan's elderly citizens do not want to stop working.
Mr Kumamoto wants to work as long as he can, but not at the expense of family life and hobbies.
'I want time to be with my wife, to see my four grandchildren and to play golf three times a month,' he said.
