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Japan's ageing society

Apollo

先輩
28 Mar 2004
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The ageing of Japanese society has been a topic of great concern and much discussion in Japan. The ageing of society is a topic of discussion in most developed countries, but in Japan this issue seems to be particularly high on the agenda.
This reflects the fact that Japan is experiencing a more rapid ageing of its population than most other countries 窶 a result of an increase in life expenctacy 窶 the highest in the world 窶 and a reduction in the fertility rate to one of the lowest in the world.

In 1985, approx. 10% of the Japanese pop. Was 65 years old or older. By 2000, this share increased to 17%, similar to that in Sweden and around 2% higher than the other Nordic countries. The percentage is expected to increase further, to reach more than 25% in 2015 窶 a much more rapid demographic transition than in the Nordic countries.
While the share of the population 65 years old or older is expected to increase by 15% in Japan during the period from 1985 to 2015, the figures for the Nordic countries vary from less than 1% for Norway to 7,5% for Finland, with Sweden and Denmark between 3 - 4%.

This poses many challenges, such as increasing pressure on the health and home care system and on the pension system.
Changes in the social structure, especially the increasing population of women in the labour force, which are occurring in parallel with the ageing of people, are putting pressure on existing traditions, policies and institutions. This is due to the fact that traditionally, much of the care of the elderly has been handled by women looking after their relatives, and now that they have joined the workforce, they do not have much time to care for relatives.

The lack of appropriate elderly care has put pressure on the medical care system, in the form of what is called social hospitalisation. This refers to a practice in which the elderly are hospitalised unnecessarily, or for too long, because of a lack of other, more appropriate alternatives of nursing and medical care.

And now, the elderly and disabled persons have become a growing market in Japan for new and expanding business opportunities. E.g. The pharmaceutical industry with diabetes medicine etc. Many foreign companies have entered the Japanese market only because of this.
And many Japanese firms are involved in the development of robots to care for the elderly 窶 pet robots. (from about 1999 by Sony, NEC and Matsushita). Matsushita窶冱 cat-robot called 窶弋ama,窶 is popular. Furthermore, the Matsushita Group opened a factory especially adapted for people aged 65+.
Interesting!!
 
This kind of aging trend is actually predicted for the whole world. Japan is just getting there faster. Don't forget the impending population collapse that should reduce the number of people in Japan by as much as 20% in the next 50 years. Japan needs people to replace them in their workforce...and may be looking abroad for them. They need foreigners, but some companies won't accept them and there have long been rumblings of "too many foreigners in Japan." Paradox of the Japanese economy?
 
MeAndroo said:
This kind of aging trend is actually predicted for the whole
developed
MeAndroo said:
world. Japan is just getting there faster. Don't forget the impending population collapse that should reduce the number of people in Japan by as much as 20% in the next 50 years. Japan needs people to replace them in their workforce...and may be looking abroad for them.
May be going to, but is currently trying to ignore that idea as hard as possible.
 
It's the same thing in Finland, people talk about the problems the health care system is going to face when the post-WW2 "baby boom" masses are going to retire... This means you can perhaps get work more easily but also that the health care system really will be stretched beyond its limits. Another thing is, which I think may be the case in Japan as well, that the young people of today don't want to do "****** jobs" such as cleaning etc. Everyone wants to be well-educated with a university degree but there just isn't space for everyone... So the problems really are piling up *_*

I also read somewhere that in Japan old people who are childless are sometimes considered luckier by some of their peers because they can go to a retirement home "without guilt" of not being taken care by their children.
 
Anyone that wants to live in Japan long-term (especially non-native English speakers that can't squeeze into an English teaching job) should be very thankful. There were thousands of visas opened up a few years ago for this and this alone.
 
Here In Maine....

there is a big problem finding people to help the elderly. The work can be pure misery at times with pay lower then what you can make flippin burgers.
I see very very few young people in my job field. Most workers in home care
are over 40 . Lately the jobs are being filled by newly arrived immigrants. I think it will become a worldwide crisis soon. I'm worried about who & what system will be there for me in a few years when I need it!

Frank

:?
 
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