Confirmed: Japan's gyms really are going gray

As any Tokyo dweller into the heathen pastime that is working out will tell you in a flash, the capital’s public and private gyms are notable for their singular lack of eye candy.

In fact, most of the sweatboxes tend to be overrun with wrinkly power-walkers and creaking aerobicizers well into retirement age. Good for them, we say, but where are the facts behind the hearsay?

Aging society

For those, we turn to Nikkei.com [paywall], which tells us that folk under 40 make up only around a third of gym users, while the silvery end of the bell curve is only continuing to swell.

Naturally, the much-discussed graying of the Japanese population is a factor, but there are also other agents at work.

Among these, the report cites the usual suspects of cost and free time as factors keeping the youngsters away, but one of the oddest gripes about gyms comes from a 20-something Tokyo woman.

Too much choice

Like a goldfish stupefied by its luxurious surroundings, the apparently confused ex-gym-rat says: “I used to be a member of a fitness club, but I quit because the money I paid for membership seemed to be a waste because there were so many machines I never used.”

So, if there were only one machine, she’d be happier? OK ...