Generations in Touch (Book).

This article presents information on the book "Generations in Touch: Linking the Old and Young in a Tokyo Neighborhood," by Leng Leng Thang. This volume presents an ethnography of Kotoen, a facility in Tokyo, Japan, that attempts to reengage generations by integrating an old-age home, a day center for elders, and a day-care center for children. Kotoen's adult residents are considered to be "grandparents" to its children. Thang volunteered and conducted interviews among the facility's different groups between 1995 and 1996. She finds that although Kotoen's programming does not pro- mote close relationships between individual children and elders, the interaction with children seems to combat loneliness and boredom among the elders while providing positive views of old age and institutional old-age facilities among the children and the public.