Surprisingly it's not the deafness or the immobility that are most alarming but

Surprisingly, it's not the deafness or the immobility that are most alarming but the isolation. We get letters from people saying that they feel guilty now about being so intolerant, that for the first time they understand what it's like to be old."Taking off the suit is a relief: I have been a horrible old man. "But people are very moved, too," says Mr Gonjo, "especially those who have elderly parents. They are hilarious occasions, as proud branch managers are reduced to shambling octogenarians in front of their giggling employees.

Armed with the suits, gangs of WAC members pay visits to schools, companies and government offices. He organises outings, meetings and voluntary activities, the most popular job of which is acting as "instructor" on the simulator. The economic miracle had another effect: many workers, mostly men, were robbed of any sense of leisure time. Hours were long, holidays short, weekends typically spent sleeping, golfing (often with clients) and watching television. "You get these men who have devoted their lives to their company, who have no hobbies, no idea of how to enjoy themselves," says Mr Gonjo. "Their wives are lively, but they just lie down at home in front of the TV In Japanese, they're called 'wet leaves'. When leaves are wet, they just lie there, even when you brush them."Mr Gonjo's organisation is called the Wonderful Ageing Club (WAC), and one of its functions is to blow-dry the wet leaves.

The post-war boom broke up the traditional extended family, in which elderly parents would live with their sons and daughters-in-law as children moved away to the cities. In a few years, the pension system could collapse."The Japanese who will retire in the next 10 years are a different breed from the present generation of elderly. "The government doesn't realise how serious it is, but it'll be a genuine crisis. By some estimates, more than a quarter of the population will be over 60 by the year 2000.

"That means there will be fewer people to look after the elderly, and fewer taxpayers to pay for the cost of their social security," says Shukichi Gonjo, who invented the Senior Simulator. In Japan, people live longer than anywhere else in the world; yet Japan has one of the lowest birth rates. Inevitably, he disobeyed; suddenly, like Dorian Grey, Taro was transformed into an old man.It's an uncomfortably appropriate parable. When he left, he was given a mysterious box with the strict order never to open it. The pockets of the jacket contain weights that drag down your shoulders and back. You wear plugs in your ears, and goggles that dim and narrow your vision.