HONDA TAMIKO began working as a child on her family's farm
back when Japan was at war with America.
Now 93, Ms Honda still puts in a hard day's toil
as a janitor at a McDonald's branch in Kumamoto, in southern Japan.
Ms Honda says her pension is plenty to live off; she chooses to keep showing up.
"Humans are animals, after all," she chuckles.
"We have to keep moving as much as we can."
Ms Honda is the oldest in McDonald's crew of some 220,000 in Japan.
But she is less an outlier than a harbinger.
As people live longer, they are staying healthy for longer and working longer, too.
Japan and its neighbour South Korea, two of the most rapidly ageing countries,
are at the forefront of this transition.
Nearly 40% of South Koreans and more than 25% of Japanese aged above 65 remain at work,
the highest rates in the OECD, a club of mostly rich countries (see chart).
But labour markets and social systems designed for a different demographic era
struggle to make the most of those who can work and to support those who can't.
Many people in both Japan and South Korea keep working out of necessity.
More than half of elderly employees in Japan say they work for income.
The financial pressure is even greater in South Korea,
where the pension system failed to keep pace with the country's rapid development after the Korean war,