A recent study by Japan’s National Institute of Population and Social Security Research shows, according to Vox Populi (Asahi Shimbun) that “elderly men who live alone are more prone than their female counterparts to becoming social recluses.”
This is not a surprise given the history of reclusion and hikikomori in Japan, which has always been an especially male phenomenon, but the study surveys a more mainstream population wherein the loss of family and friends tends to isolate elderly men versus elderly women. This information further delineates the differences between men and women in general, and essentially identifies it with larger social patterns in contemporary Japan.
URL: http://ajw.asahi.com/article/views/vox/AJ201307260049
Related article on the study: http://ajw.asahi.com/article/behind_news/social_affairs/AJ201307260005