Dozono Haruhiko is no stranger to loneliness. As the founder of one of Japan’s first palliative care clinics, he saw many patients struggling with social isolation. His solution: a tower of multigenerational togetherness.

In 2011, he applied for a government grant with his idea for Nagaya Tower. Today, the apartment complex houses 43 people, ages 8 to 92, in the peaceful city of Kagoshima on the Japanese island of Kyushu.

The apartment building’s motto: “Life is happy when you have someone to smile with.”

With shared community spaces, the tower was built so that different generations could meet and interact. The staff is dedicated to supporting residents and connecting them with each other to generate the community life that is so important to combating the loneliness of older people, which has become a significant problem in Japan’s increasingly aging society.

“After coming to Nagaya Tower, I feel rejuvenated,” one resident, Kukita, says with a smile. “Nursing homes are full of old people, but here you stay young because you are surrounded by children and young people.”

A message on a small whiteboard near the elevator is a reminder that dinner in this apartment building is tonight at 7 p.m., as it is once every month. Many of the residents are likely to attend, since being together is the point.

Nagaya Tower, in the peaceful city of Kagoshima on the Japanese island of Kyushu, houses 43 people, ages 8 to 92, including a family with five children. With shared community spaces, the tower was built so that different generations could meet and interact. The staff is dedicated to supporting residents and connecting them with each other to generate that community life so important to combating the loneliness of older people, which has become a significant problem in Japan’s increasingly aging society.

“This community is inspired by the ancient nagayas of the Japanese Edo period,” says Nomura Yasunori, who moved here five years ago with his wife. “From children to the elderly, families, singles, from different occupations, all lived together in the same long compartmentalized house.”

According to United Nations data, in 2021 Japan had the world’s oldest population, with 30% of its people ages 65 and over, a percentage that is expected to increase. That year, the Japanese Cabinet Office appointed a minister for loneliness and social isolation to address this situation.

According to a survey conducted in 2017 by Japan’s National Institute of Population and Social Security Research, 15% of older men who live alone talk with one person or no one every two weeks, while 30% feel they have no reliable people they can turn to for help in their day-to-day lives.

Dozono Haruhiko, founder of one of Japan’s first palliative care clinics, saw how his patients could suffer from social isolation. He believed that what these patients needed was human interaction, and so, in 2011, he applied for a government grant with his idea for Nagaya Tower, which was completed in 2013.

By 6 p.m. on this evening, residents are starting to arrive with food for the communal dinner. Some of them rearrange tables to form a single one that takes up almost the entire room; others go to the kitchen to lend a hand.