Bus Stop Where No Buses Arrive Supports People with Dementia

Toyohashi, Aichi Pref., Oct. 15 (Jiji Press)--A cafe in central Japan set up an old bus stop with a fake timetable installed but no buses arriving, serving as an early example of an initiative known as a "benevolent lie" for individuals with dementia that is now spreading nationwide.

The Anki cafe in Toyohashi, Aichi Prefecture, is designed to be an interaction space for people with dementia and their families.

The idea of setting up a mock bus stop to prevent people with dementia from wandering away from care facilities to go home originated in Germany, according to Tomoka Sugino, the 56-year-old head of Pokapoka no Mori, a nonprofit organization that runs the cafe.

Learning that such bus stops installed at dementia care facilities had helped residents trying to go home relax while they waited for a bus, Sugino recalled feeling that supporting them with a gentle lie was a wonderful approach.

Although no residents live at the cafe, it received a bus stop slated to be scrapped from Toyohashi Rail Road Co. and set it up in 2021 as the cafe's symbol.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]