Japan new problem with runaways....adults

[Taro Toporific]

Adult runaways replace teenage counterparts in Japan
MSN-Mainichi Daily News: September 16, 2005
...The National Police Agency reported this year the number of juveniles who left home halved from a peak of 47,606 in 1981 to just 21,502 in 2004. But the number of adult runaways surged from 57,018 in 1981 to 74,487 in 2004 -- an increase of 31 percent.
Almost 20 percent of the missing adult reports cited family woes as the most likely reason for the disappearance, followed by problems at work and relationships....
Japanese parents often baby their children well into their 20s and 30s, prompting Japanese sociologists to coin the term "parasite singles," meaning young people who can't stop sponging off their parents....more...

[dimwit]

MSN-Mainichi Daily News: September 16, 2005
Almost 20 percent of the missing adult reports cited family woes as the most likely reason for the disappearance, followed by problems at work and relationships....
Japanese parents often baby their children well into their 20s and 30s, prompting Japanese sociologists to coin the term "parasite singles," meaning young people who can't stop sponging off their parents.

Maybe I'm being pedant but can a 30 year old be a runaway given that there is no legal obligation to stay? I've always assumed that 30 year old who disappear fit into one of three categories: soldiers who are AWOL, people who have done a bunk, and criminals on the lam.

[Mulboyne]

Over-indebtedness still makes some people disappear. Miyuki Miyabe touched on the subject in "All She Was Worth". The translation was out in 1998 but the book was written a few years earlier. the 2003 "yamakin" (illegal lenders) social problem saw a number of people take off to avoid the extortionists.

ALL SHE WAS WORTH is search for a woman on the run. The trouble is, the life she left behind doesn't seem to have been her own. What would it take to cut through the elaborate red tape Japan uses to keep tabs on its citizens, and become a different person?