So do you respect 12-year-olds as much as you respect 25-year-olds? Do you respect the opinions on work and adult responsibilities of a 23-year-old as much as those of a 35-year-old? Do you trust the professional judgment of a junior engineer as much as that of a senior engineer?

Older people, in general, know more and have better judgment than younger people.

Not in Japan.

You're conflating age with wisdom - a common fallacy when charisma is valued over education, leading to Septuagenarian Heads of State ruling on partisan lines rather than Technocratic and egalitarian governance.

Age correlates with wisdom. It’s not a fallacy. I don’t claim that every person is wiser than all people younger than him.

All you know about an old person is they’ve lived - and survived - longer than someone who is not so old.

That can have a lot of different meanings.