The global ageing of society and the future patterns of intergenerational relations between young and old, are of great significance if we are to develop a more socially inclusive and integrated society. Generations in Touch provides an excellent and empirically rich eastern perspective on these issues, furthering our knowledge and understanding of the benefits to be gained from developing... a ... Read moredeliberate social policy of linking older and younger people in appropriate settings. Leng Leng Thang has written a readable, thoughtful and critically stimulating ethnography that examines the 'reengagement' of older and younger people in the context of an intergenerational social welfare institution.... This book is extremely well timed and should be of significant interest to policy makers, practitioners and academics alike.
Ageing and Society
In her excellent, almost flawless ethnography, Leng Leng Thang examines Kotoen as a possible answer to the urgent problems surrounding aging in Japan and the world over. Never tempted by simplistic or myopic conclusions, Thang has written a field-intensive, empirically solid book. Nothing seems to escape her perceptive eye and ear.
Takie S. Lebra, University of Hawaii In Generations in Touch, Leng Leng Thang carefully elucidates how the cultural ideal of a large multigenerational household unites with the contemporary emphasis on positive personal encounters to provide a template for fostering reengagement among elders and positive attitudes toward aging among children. Set effectively within the larger context of changing family structure in contemporary Japan, the book engages the question of whether intergenerational togetherness can be socially engineered in an institutional setting. Generations in Touch is a rich and timely contribution to the ethnographic literature on aging and family in Japan.
Maria D. Vesperi, New College of the University of South Florida Leng Leng Thang's portrait of an age-integrated home for the elderly with an attached nursery school offers both an ironic view of the paradoxes of aging and a potential at least for comfort, if not dignity.... Thang's work is a very strong contribution to Japanese studies, cross-cultural gerontology, and anthropology of modern institutions. It reads well and might act as a text in a college or graduate-school course in these fields.... Thang's work presents a balanced view, however hopeful she obviously is that such an establishment might provide a good alternative to family care.
The Journal of Asian Studies
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