
Yoshikazu Tsuno / AFP—Getty Images
A chair that boasts a life-size fabric doll with long arms for giving sitters a big hug appears to have stolen the show at the International Home Care and Rehabilitation Exhibition in Tokyo.
This $419 “tranquility chair,” manufactured by the nursing care goods company Unicare, is “designed for older people,” a spokesperson told AFP. According to the World Bank, about a quarter of Japan’s population is over 65, and the number of seniors living alone in Japan is expected to grow 54% by 2030, per The National Institute of Population and Social Security Research in Tokyo, Bloomberg reports.
MORE: Japan: Baby Robots Treat Depressed Seniors
MORE: How Feeling Lonely Can Shorten Your Life
More Must-Reads From TIME
- The Case for Mediocrity
- How Russia Is Recruiting Cubans to Fight in Ukraine
- Paul Hollywood Answers All of Your Questions About The Great British Baking Show
- Meet the 2023 TIME100 Next: the Emerging Leaders Shaping the World
- Oprah and Arthur C. Brooks: How to Separate Work From Your Identity
- How Canada and India's Relationship Crumbled
- You Don’t Have to Like Wrestling to Love Netflix’s Excellent Wrestlers
- The Most Anticipated Books, Movies, TV, and Music of Fall 2023
- Want Weekly Recs on What to Watch, Read, and More? Sign Up for Worth Your Time