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Fri 09 Sep 2010Silver surfers
JAPAN:As Japan struggles with the world's fastest-ageing workforce, many companies are finding that pensioners still have plenty to offer, writes DAVID MCNEILL
JAPAN’S BAKING summer sun is hot enough to melt tar on the roads and, inside the Nishijimax factory, the thermometer is well north of 30 degrees. Susumu Sugiura is welding heavy steel plates, sweat pouring from his wrinkled brow. In the next building, his wife Kimiko uses a solder and screwdriver to wire an electric junction box. Challenging tasks for most – let alone a couple with a collective age of 145.
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