A couple paddle leisurely down the Kotsuki River on an orange kayak in the peaceful city of Kagoshima, located on the southern Japanese island of Kyūshū. In the background, Sakurajima, one of Japan’s most active volcanoes and symbol of the city, smokes lightly. This could be an ordinary scene in the landscape of this city of nearly 600,000 inhabitants, were it not for the fact that the two rowers are more than 40 years apart in age. They are part of a peculiar community located just a few meters from the river. Masatoshi, 80, was the first to move into Nagaya Tower a decade ago, while Hidaka, 38, his companion on today’s kayak trip, is a recent arrival in this community. The Tower’s 43 residents, between the ages of 8 and 92, live in rental apartments in the six-story building.

“This neighborhood is inspired by the old nagayas of the Japanese Edo period, which more than 150 years ago were part of a collective lifestyle. From children to the elderly, families and bachelors of different occupations, everyone lived together in the same compartmentalized longhouse, and around the common well they would chat while doing laundry or household chores,” explains Yasunori, 72, who joined this project five years ago with his wife, Mutsuko, 70. “Nagaya Tower is a modern tenement house, a community that values residents’ bonds. Plus, the owner is a doctor at the hospital next door, which is reassuring for the older residents,” he adds as he pulls weeds with his wife and a couple of children from the Muffin Child Development Support Office, located on the second floor of the building. The center for children with developmental disabilities is also part of the tower project. It organizes activities with the residents as part of its educational program, enriching both the younger children and the older ones who spend time with them. “The children learn rules and manners through interaction with other elders who are not members of their immediate family, developing communication skills,” says Nobuhisa, 39, who is in charge of the center.

The project is based on the vision of Dr. Haruhiko Dozono, 71. At the age of 43, Dozono founded one of Japan’s first palliative care clinics, where he realized that most of his mentally impaired patients suffered from social isolation and psychological loneliness. He believed that what they needed was not medication but human interaction. He was aware, though, that there were few places where they could have those connections. So he decided to create a space where older people could be part of a community. In 2011 he applied for a grant from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism with his Nagaya Tower project: a building where different generations could meet, with shared community spaces and facilities, and with staff dedicated to creating community life in order to combat the loneliness of the elderly, which has become a significant problem in an aging Japanese society.

After his proposal was approved, construction of the complex began and was completed in March 2013. “It was the first intergenerational living project in Japan,” says the doctor proudly, “and I am happy to see that little by little this model of community living that fosters relationships between different generations is being replicated in other cities.” Some of the residents are his patients. Since they have been living in a community, their mood has improved and, with it, their health. “In this country, there are more and more elderly people who are alone,” says Dr. Dozono,