1st nationwide survey sheds light on young carers in Japan
May 2, 2021 (Mainichi Japan)
Former young carer Yukiko Okimura (R) poses for a photo with her mother in Kanagawa Prefecture in 2007, when she was a high school student. (Photo courtesy of Yukiko Okimura)(Kyodo)
TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Yukiko Okimura was just 11 years old when her mother, a single parent, was left paralyzed by a traffic accident on her way to work in Kanagawa Prefecture, west of Tokyo, in 2001.
A tragic upheaval already in the life of any elementary school kid, what made it doubly transformative for Okimura was suddenly finding herself taking on the role of her mother's main carer, with no relatives ready to step in.