The Care Of The Elderly In Japan

The problems of an ageing population are particularly acute in Japan. These problems include people living longer, with many needing more care, and the problems of supporting them by a diminishing working population and a diminishing tax base. This book, based on extensive fieldwork in a Japanese institution for the elderly, explores the whole issue of ageing and responses to it in Japan, and compares the Japanese approach in these matters with Western approaches. It discusses how people in Japan have changed their perceptions towards family responsibility, the institutionalization of the elderly, and rights of welfare. It also discusses how institutions for the elderly are run in Japan and how their management differs from that in the West.

The problems of an ageing population are particularly acute in Japan. These problems include people living longer, with many needing more care, and the problems of supporting them by a diminishing working population and a diminishing tax base. This book, based on extensive fieldwork in a Japanese institution for the elderly, explores the whole issue of ageing and responses to it in Japan, and compares the Japanese approach in these matters with Western approaches. It discusses how people in Japan have changed their perceptions towards family responsibility, the institutionalization of the elderly, and rights of welfare. It also discusses how institutions for the elderly are run in Japan and how their management differs from that in the West.

In an era of changing demographics and values, this volume provides a cross-national and interdisciplinary perspective on the question of who cares for and about the elderly. The contributors reflect on research studies, experimental programmes and personal experience in Japan and the United States to explicitly compare how policies, practices and interpretations of elder care are evolving at the turn of the century.

Based on comparative and collaborative studies of Japanese and Norwegian specialists, this book focuses upon the critical analysis of 'rationality of care' with an empirical examination of care services in the two countries. The book argues that elder care is not simply the act of labor, but that of love, and it looks at such aspects of care as home help, new public management, and social enterprise. Predicated on the historical experience and contemporary reality of elder care in both countries, the study confronts the commercial rationalization of care practices and explores their desirable forms.

Across the globe, populations are getting older. Hayashi surveys the development of residential care in Britain and Japan from the 1920s onwards, using regional case studies, and taking into account the influence of traditions and cultural norms.

Research Paper (undergraduate) from the year 2009 in the subject Health - Miscellaneous, grade: 1,6, University of Applied Sciences Bremen, language: English, abstract: The development of the Japanese society is characterized by a lot of similarities to Germany. This is why I have chosen the country to compare especially the Health Care System with the German one. Not only the economic achievements are comparable, but first of all the Demographic Change. In 2020 28% of the Japanese population will be over 65 years. In Germany it is prognosticated to be around 21% (Tab.1). Moreover the Japanese Health Care System is known as own of the cheapest of the industrialized countries. This leads to the question of adoption of some parts or ideas from the Japanese system to the German one. In my elaboration I want to describe a case of a family in Japan regarding the family and work situation, the Health Care System in general and additionally the system of taking care of the elderly and the children. My example family has got following parts: The mother is 42 years old, she works as a nurse in an outpatient department of a local government. In addition she has to take care of her parents almost every day. The father is 45 years old, works as an engineer and likes his hobby, which is driving motorbikes. The daughter of them is 7 and their son is 13, both go to school. The grandmother has got dementia, she is 76 years old and lives together with her husband, who is 76 and has got diabetes. They live in the neighborhood of their children and grandchildren. Case 1: Values, culture, roles of the family members. Case 2: Health Care System of Japan in comparison to the German one. What happens after a traffic accident of the father? Case 3: Elderly and Child Care in general and in the case of the accident and depression of the mother.