A combination of uniquely Japanese cultural, social and demographic factors have compounded the problem.

Japan's social safety net has failed to keep pace – with the burden still on the family to look after the elderly.

There is a rising of single people and the size of the family becoming smaller.

In the past three decades, Japan has seen the share of single-occupant households more than double to 14.5 per cent of the total population, the rise driven mainly by men in their 50s and women in their 80s and older.

In a bid to be polite, elderly Japanese people fear to disturb their neighbors even to ask for help in the most trifling matters, resulting in a lack of interaction and isolation, expert Fujimori said.