Japan's boomers and seniors are among the wealthiest citizens in the world. While Japan's media still tries to reach the young and fashionable, they are starting to make special efforts to reach the older crowd too.

Some excerpts from the BBC story:

The Asahi Shimbun newspaper in Osaka is keen to keep its loyal older readers.

It recently launched a special supplement which has a larger typeface than the other pages and contains articles about pensions, health and sightseeing.

The newspaper's readers - who are mainly over 60 - have money to spare and time on their hands, so not surprisingly they are an attractive target for advertisers.

"There are lots of middle-aged and older readers of our newspaper now," says the Asahi Shimbun's Jiro Omura.

"They tend to read a lot, so we often take advertisements for books and other publications." ...

The country's leading television network, NHK, is also seeking ways to connect with its mature audience.

"NHK has a lot of older viewers and the population of elderly people is increasing in Japan," says programme director Yuuichi Funakoshi.

"We did extensive research into their tastes and found that they enjoy music programmes and programmes about health. But what they really like is programmes which teach them new hobbies," he says.

"We have TV shows that teach you about golf, calligraphy, computers and digital cameras. They're very popular."