Global History Aging Japan

Ithaca College Gerontology Institute
www.ithaca.edu/aging/schools

(Permission is granted to make copies of this lesson plan for non-commercial, educational purposes.)

L LE ES SS SO ON N P PL LA AN NS S O ON N A AG GI IN NG G I IS SS SU UE ES S: :
C Cr re ea at ti iv ve e W Wa ay ys s t to o M Me ee et t S So oc ci ia al l S St tu ud di ie es s S St ta an nd da ar rd ds s

Global History

AGING IN JAPAN

www.ithaca.edu/aging/schools

(Permission is granted to make copies of this lesson plan for non-commercial, educational purposes.)
Table of Contents
Aging in Japan

Overview: Japans Aging Population 1
Handout: Overview of Population Issues in Japan.... 3
Handout: Review Questions 8
Handout: Taking Care of Parents in Japan9
Handout: Major Issues: Caring for Japans Aging Population.. 11
Handout: Assignment: Scenario..16
Handout: Government Fliers.. 17
Handout: Japanese Opinion Survey 19
Handout: When Baby Boomers Grow Old..20


1
Japans Aging Population

Introduction

This lesson is designed to help students understand the issues the Japanese government faces as
the number of older citizens continues to increase. Specific emphasis is on the role of women in
the traditional Japanese model as caretakers for their parents and parents-in law. Students read
and discuss background information on Japans aging population, understand the perspectives of
caregivers, and review major issues affecting the Japanese governments plans to care for older
adults. Finally, students work in a scenario where, as top government officials, they look for
solutions to the problem. This lesson should take two or three class periods, depending on how
the teacher divides activities between class work and homework.

Objectives

Students will:
Identify the role women play in taking care of older persons
Identify changes in Japanese society that affect women as caretakers
Synthesize the results of a survey to identify adult concerns about aging
Analyze demographic data from graphs
Exercise problem solving skills by developing solutions to a scenario based on given data
Create a class presentation as part of a team
Summarize the teams plan in writing

Materials

Handouts: Overview of Population Issues in Japan
Review Questions
Taking Care of Parents in Japan
Major Issues: Caring for Japans Aging Population
Assignment: Scenario
Government Fliers
Japanese Opinion Survey
When the Baby Boomers Grow Old

Key Terms

centenarian: a person who is 100 years or older
fertility rate: average number of children born to a woman of child-bearing years
baby bust: decline in the fertility rate
pro-natalist: policy that encourages people to have more children for the good of the country
pension: a fixed sum of money paid to a person after retirement

___________________________
Adapted from a lesson plan written by Colleen Ledley, Social Studies Teacher, Ithaca High School,
Ithaca, NY


2
Lesson Steps

1. Ask students to read the handout called Overview of Population Issues in Japan. This
overview provides important background information. Discuss the information using the
study guide questions or other methods (e.g. Socratic seminar) you like to help students
process information. (Note: the reading level may be a challenge for some ninth graders. In
this case, use excerpts.)

2. Ask students to read the handout called Voices of Caretakers. Discuss the advantages and
disadvantages of families taking care of parents in their own homes. Discuss gender roles in
Japan.

3. Have students review the handout called Major Issues: Caring for Japans Aging
Population. Each teacher should decide whether or not to use the graphs for skill
development.

4. Distribute the scenario assignment, the handout called When the Baby Boomers Grow
Old, the opinion survey and the government flyers. Divide the students into groups and
explain the rubric for evaluating each groups presentation. (Teachers should create their
own rubrics.)

Extension Activities

This lesson can be followed by the lesson Why is Aging an Important Issue for Governments?

3
Handout
Overview of Population I ssues in J apan

A countrys population is the source of its
vitality, but it is also the cause of the assorted
costs involved in maintaining a reasonable
standard of living. Particularly for a resource-
poor island nation like Japan, a population that
is excessively large or excessively small
presents a serious problem. Size is not the only
issue; the populations structure is also an
important factor. For example, a severe
imbalance between the genders can threaten the
stability of marriage and the family in a
monogamous society. And if the number of
senior citizens is large by comparison with the
working-age population, the latter will bear a
heavy burden supporting them, and the pension
system may collapse. Issues like these cannot
be ignored by anyone who wishes to understand
the policy choices and social problems that
Japan faces or to consider the countrys
prospects for the near-term future.
Until as recently as the 1950s, Japan faced a
chronic problem of too many mouths to feed. In
the Edo period (1600-1868) the population was
held down by such desperate means as
infanticide and the abandonment of old people.
From the latter part of the nineteenth century
through the first part of the twentieth, the
population shot up, and many poor rural
families were reduced to hiring out even small
children as servants. During this long and hard
period, surely no Japanese imagined that their
country would ever find itself facing a shortage
of births, but that is precisely what has
happened in the past couple of decades.
The population is still growing, although at a
slow tempo. According to the 1995 census,
Japan had 125,568,504 people, which made it
the seventh most populous country in the world
(ranking next after Russia). The projection is
for the number to rise to 127.4 million by the
end of the century and to 130.4 million by the
year 2011. Then, however, it will start to fall.
This will be quite a new development for the
Japanese, who have experienced declining
populations in rural regions but never in the
country as a whole.
I was riding a bus recently when a young
mother apologized to the nearby passengers for
her infants squalling. To this, an older woman
rejoined, Theres no need for you to apologize
even if the little ones noisy; after all, nowadays
our problem is not enough babies being born.
These words speak of the growing concern
among todays Japanese about the issue of
declining fertility.
Death rates have also fallen dramatically,
with the result that average life spans have
increased by about 30 years over the past half
century. Life expectancy is now 82 for women
and 76 for men. The share of those aged 65 or
over reached 14% of the population in 1994,
and by 2010 Japan is expected to be number one
in the world by this measure. People in their
seventies and eighties have become common-
place, and even centenarians are rapidly
increasing in number. Some municipalities that
formerly handed out Y5,000 to everyone who
was 70 or older on Respect for the Aged Day
(September 15) have raised the threshold for
special gifts to 77 or even 88 (two traditional
landmarks for celebrating longevity) in the face
of rising outlays. It is no longer unusual to hear
of people in their seventies looking after parents
in their nineties. There is much interest in and
concern about the issues of financial security
and care for the aged, since everybody expects
to be personally affected sooner or later. And
women are addressing these issues much more
vigorously than men. This is partly because a
majority of the aged, including those who are
bedridden, are female, and also because women
are the main providers of care for the elderly.
When it comes to population issues, aging
has been the main object of attention in recent
years, but the decline of fertility is also a major
concern for the future. Why are women having
JAPAN ECHO, Introduction, Special Issue, Vol. 23, The Graying Society, 1996.

4
fewer babies?
One reason is that todays women are not as
quick to get married as those of previous
generations. In a country like Japan where
unmarried women rarely have babies, a
slowdown in marriages can be expected to mean
a slowdown in births. Getting married and
having children are highly personal matters. It
is ironic that social interest is focusing on these
matters at a time when young people are
becoming increasingly resentful of interference
in such areas from society or even from their
parents. Many of these independently minded
young people are remaining single well after
reaching marriageable ages.
Contributing to the tendency of women to
marry later (or never) are the facts that they are
continuing their education longer and have
greater job opportunitiesand more interest in
pursuing careersthan women of earlier
generations. They are also more interested in
self-realization and enjoy a greater variety of
options for achieving it. Another point is that
there are more unmarried men than women,
making the latter less worried about not being
able to find a mate. These and various other
factors are making women look at marriage
differently and causing many of them to delay
getting married. The key point is that women
are now able to support themselves financially
without relying on the support of a husband. In
other words, marriage has become an option
rather than a necessity.
In most cases, however, it appears that
women are exercising their freedom of choice
not by rejecting marriage but by postponing it.
In a survey of single people conducted by the
Ministry of Health and Welfare in 1992, only
6% of the female respondents declared that they
intended to stay unmarried for life; the figure for
males was lower still at 3%. But even though
virtually everybody expects to marry eventually,
they are in no hurry to do so. Compared with a
similar survey taken five years earlier, the share
of those who declared an intention of getting
married by some particular age was down for
both males and females. Among women,
almost half said they were ready to wait until
they found their ideal matea change from the
earlier survey, in which the number who were
concerned about marriage age was 10
percentage points higher than the number who
were not. Given the direction of this change, we
can probably expect the trend toward later
marriages to progress even further.
The Japanese already marry later than the
people of most other nations. As of 1994, the
average age of first marriage was 28.5 for males
and 26.2 for females. These are nationwide
figures; if we just considered educated women
living in urban areas, we would doubtless find
an even higher average marriage age. Since
single women can get just about everything they
desire, including sex, without marrying, it is
only natural that they are in no hurry to give up
the freedom they enjoy.
Later marriages for women mean later
marriage for men, but in their case it is more a
result of the trend among women than of their
own preferences. A survey conducted by the
Prime Ministers Office reveals that, unlike
women, who see getting married or not as a
private matter, men tend to see marriage as a
major milestone in life and as a socially
significant event. They are likely to view it as a
means of confirming their identity as full-
fledged adults and of winning greater trust. Not
being able to get married when they would like
is thus a serious matter for them.
In farming communities, the shortage of
brides became evident as a problem as early as
in the 1960s, a period of rapid economic growth
when employment opportunities drew many
young women to the city. Young farmers
started seeking brides among women from other
Asian countries, including the Philippines,
South Korea, and even as far afield as Sri
Lanka. A similar phenomenon can now be
found among men in urban areas with poor
prospects for finding a Japanese mate, but it
cannot reverse the overall trend toward later
marriages.

5
Not only are women marrying later, but
when they do marry they are having fewer
children. When the total fertility rate (the
average number of children born to a woman
during her lifetime) fell to 1.57 in 1989, serious
attention started focusing on the issue of the
declining birthrate. In fact, the male response
verged on the hysterical. The rate has continued
to decline since then, reaching 1.46 in 1994, and
was presumably even lower in 1995, which saw
45,000 fewer births than the previous year. The
ongoing baby bust has caused the share of
children in the total population to drop. Back in
1945, 36.8% of Japanese were under 15, but as
of 1994 the share was only 15.6%. And given
that the replacement fertility rate is 2.09 or so, a
continuation of current trends will clearly mean
a shrinking population in the decades ahead.
This will accentuate the aging of the
demographic structure, and it will mean that the
younger generations will bear a tremendously
heavy burden in supporting their seniors.
The government has not been idle in the face
of this development. In 1992, a law was
implemented to allow parents to take leave from
their jobs to look after newborn children, and
the scope of the childrens allowance,
previously paid only starting with the third
child, was broadened; now Y5,000 a month is
paid for the first and second child and Y10,000
a month for each additional child (though the
period of payment, which used to be until the
child reached school age, now ends at age 3).
Women themselves do not see the decline in
fertility as a positive development. In a survey
of women aged 50 or under conducted by the
Mainichi Newspapers in 1990, about 70% of the
respondents voiced concern about the decrease
in the number of children, including 10% who
said they were extremely worried. They are
very leery, however, of direct government
involvement in this area. According to the same
survey, only 17% supported the idea of active
public policy measures to increase births, and
some 80% opposed having the government
orchestrate a pro-naturalist campaign. Even
todays women seem to be aware of the bitter
experience an earlier generation of women had
when the national authorities carried out such a
campaign before and during World War II as
part of a drive to strengthen Japan by increasing
its population.
So how many children would women ideally
like to have? A survey conducted by the Health
and Welfare Ministry in 1992 found that the
ideal number of children averaged 2.64a
figure that was in fact higher than before,
despite the decline in the number actually being
born. But the desired numberan indicator
closer to realityaveraged 2.18, and the gap
between these two figures has been growing
wider.
Why are women having fewer children than
they want? The main reasons seem to be
economic. In particular, the costs of education
are daunting. The total bill for elementary
school through university is said to be almost
Y20 million for a child who pursues an ordinary
course of studies in the humanities. Getting a
child from high school into university imposes
the heaviest burden on parents; at this juncture,
they must devote an estimated 45%-70% of
their disposable income to education-related
outlays. One might think that families with
higher incomes would have more children, but
that is not the case. In fact, better-off families
end up spending significantly more per child in
educational expenses. One might also think that
the decline in the number of children would
mean less intense competition for educational
advancement, but again, that is not so. Parents
believe that their childrens future will be more
affected by the name of the university they
attended than by the content of what they
learned, and as long as this sort of thinking
prevails, the race to get into the top-ranking
schools will remain grueling.
With fewer children per family, parents
hopes for each individual child become that
much greater; if anything, their education fever
is likely to grow even more ardent in the years
to come. We can already see evidence of this in

6
the overheating of efforts directed at small
children, who are being put in classes of various
sorts; music, ballet, swimming, gymnastics,
English, and courses aimed at getting them into
name elementary schools. Recently there has
also been a boom in correspondence courses
directed at the pre-kindergarten age group and
even at newborn infants. The education
industry is working to make up for the shrinking
size of its market by coming up with high-value-
added products, with its focus on videos,
cassettes, picture books, and other materials
designed to make learning fun. Providing such
materials via correspondence courses is seen as
a promising area for business growth.
Education fever is not the only reason
parents are having their small children take
classes and lessons; another is the lack of
playmates. Some parents, meanwhile, are
fawning over their children like pets and
dressing them up like dolls. Even kiddie
jewelry has appeared on the scene. One cannot
help worrying whether these pampered little
angels will be able to develop normal
personalities in later years.
In addition to the high financial cost of
having a child, the cost in terms of career
opportunities is also discouraging women from
giving birth. On top of the usual maternity
leave of six weeks before and eight weeks after
birth, an increasing number of employers are
letting mothers or fathers take child-care
leave, either paid or unpaid. But even at
workplaces where this system has been
implemented, it is difficult in many cases for
women to take advantage of it because of the
lack of staff members to cover for their absence.
The current business downturn has added to the
difficulty of taking such leaves. And even if the
conditions at work make it possible to take a
year off for pregnancy and child care, many
women hesitate to do so because they fear being
left behind by their coworkers in their careers.
Social approval for women who make it on
their own and the widespread expectation that
women will seek personal fulfillment have
encouraged contemporary females, including
married women, to find meaning for their lives
in areas other than child-rearing, such as study
and work. And while todays husbands may be
more home-oriented than their fathers, wives
also realize that they are still stuck doing most
of the housework and looking after any children
they have. This also serves to discourage them
from giving birth or, if they already have a child
or children, from adding to the number.
Yet another factor is housing. The situation
has improved somewhat in recent years, but few
married couples in urban areas have houses with
yards that children can play in. Meanwhile, the
rise of individualism has created a situation
where each child wants his or her own room.
Many people suggest that the difficulty of
getting sufficiently spacious accommodations is
keeping married couples from having as many
children as they would like.
Some women even cite environmental
problems as a reason for not giving birth. They
seriously believe that they should not bring a
child into a world where the air and water are
polluted.
Women are calling for the creation of
conditions that will allow them to give birth and
raise children with an easy heart. As we have
seen, there are numerous factors involved. In
order to respond to this call, measures are
needed to support women in such a way that
they will be able to have children while
continuing to pursue careers and otherwise take
part in life outside the home. Attention must
also be paid to the mens side of the equation so
that they can be relied on to shoulder more
responsibilities in the home; this means both
consciousness raising efforts and changes in
institutional arrangements, such as a further
shortening of working hours.
Another point that I might note is the impact
of todays wealth of information. Women of
earlier generations assumed that they would
have babies once they got married, and they
generally became pregnant without having
given any advance thought to the difficulties of

7
child-rearing. Nowadays, however, women who
have never given birth have already been
exposed to all sorts of information through the
media on the hardships involved. In many
cases, they seem to develop an exaggerated
image of these difficulties and come to doubt
their own qualifications for motherhood.
Contraception has of course been a major
key to the decline in fertility. Birth control is
widely practiced in Japan; the use of condoms is
especially widespread. And the availability of
abortions has also undeniably helped limit
unwanted pregnancies. Abortion was legalized
in Japan in 1948. The law allows pregnancies to
be terminated when their continuation poses a
serious risk to the mothers health for physical
or economic reasons. An extended
interpretation of this physical or economic
reasons proviso is the basis for most abortions.
Abortion is not a religious issue in Japan,
nor is it a divisive political concern. The
decision whether to end a pregnancy or not is an
individual one, and women make it on the basis
of practical considerations. But that is not to
say that having an abortion leaves Japanese
women emotionally untouched. No one can be
happy to undergo this trauma. Fortunately, the
number of abortions has declined sharply since
the early period following their legalization. In
1955, almost 1.2 million abortions were
performed in Japan, a rate of 50.2 per thousand
women in their childbearing years (age 15-49).
But as of 1994, the number had fallen to
364,000 and the rate to 11.8 per thousand. Even
so, close to 30% of married women report
having had at least one abortion, and many have
had several. Japan has been quite successful in
limiting the growth of its population in the
decades since World War II, but behind this
success lies the hidden legacy of numerous
terminated pregnancies.
The shift to a population structure of
relatively many old people and few young
people has forced Japan to reconsider its public
pensions and other systems designed for a
traditional population pyramid. In 1994 the
commencement age for pensions was raised
(over strong opposition from labor organiza-
tions). Though the change does not go into
effect until after the turn of the century, it will
somewhat lighten the burden for the working-
age generation. But despite this change, many
people fear that the system may not be able to
bear up financially under the cost of supporting
the large aged population of the twenty-first
century. Another problem with the current
pension system, designed at a time when wives
tended to stay at home, is that it favors
nonworking wives over their increasingly
numerous working sisters. Along with the
intergenerational issue of funding, this issue of
intragenerational equity should be addressed the
next time the system comes up for revision.
Aggravating the situation is the prolonged
recession which is pushing up unemployment
and holding interest rates down. This is a
double punch for the older generation, many of
whose members would ordinarily hope to
supplement their pensions with employment and
interest income. And it poses an even greater
threat to the baby boomers now in their late
forties, particularly those who are so heavily
represented in the ranks of middle management,
since their jobs tend to be prime targets for
corporate downsizing. It remains to be seen
whether new employment opportunities will
emerge to take up the growing slack in the labor
market.
The rapidly progressing change in the
population structure cannot be reversed or even
significantly slowed. Avoiding economic and
social stagnation and maintaining intergenera-
tional fairness may be the biggest challenges
facing a Japan that is growing grayer by the
year. (Iwao Sumiko, Professor, Keio
University)


8
Handout Review Questions for Overview of Population
Issues in Japan

Questions

1. Describe the population issues facing Japan in the 19
th
century and early 20
th
century.

2. Describe the new population issues facing Japan in the 21
st
century.

3. Provide 2 statistics that help to explain the current population challenges. Which statistics
are confusing to you?

4. How does the aging population of Japan affect women?

5. What factors explain why the fertility rate is declining in Japan?

6. How has the decline in fertility rate led to an older population?

7. Why are women having fewer children than they want? Consider the following:
a) education
b) career opportunities
c) housing
d) environmental problems

8. Do men and women in the United States face these same issues (as listed in #7)?

Summary

Which population issues pose the greatest challenges to Japan in the 21
st
century?

Vocabulary/Terms

centenarians: a person that is 100 years old or older
fertility rate: average number of children born to a woman (of child-bearing years)
baby bust: decline in the average number of children born to a woman
pro-natalist: policy that encourages people to have more children for the good of the country
pension: a fixed sum of money paid to a person after retirement

9
Handout

Taking Care of Parents in Japan: Voices of Caretakers

In 1993, Brenda Robb Jenike (socio-cultural anthropologist at the University of California, Los
Angeles) interviewed three middle-aged women living in Tokyo and Yokohama who had cared
for elderly family members. Below are excerpts from her interviews:

Ms. Yamamori (52 years), as a single woman and the youngest of three children, she moved her
parents into the apartment next door. She and her mother cared for her bedridden father.

Each night after work I would be at my parents until Dad was asleep, and everything
was donethe housework and such. After that I would return to my own place, about midnight,
take care of my things, and go to sleep. In the morning I would go straight to work. Towards the
end, when his death was near, I checked on his condition in the mornings, too I was exhausted.
I lost weight. I didnt get enough sleep. More than me, it was mom who was tired. She would
say she was going to die before Dad.
Dad was the most important thing, caring for him for as long as he lived. I have no
regrets. I quit my clubs and activities outside of work, but I didnt want to do anything else. I
knew he would never get better, so I think it was for my own sake so that I wouldnt think back
during my life that I should have done more for him Oyakoko you are happy to do. Willing to
do. Its not an obligation. Its a good part of our culture. As my parent aged, I wanted to help
them.

Mrs. Kawabe (52) cared for her mother-in-law as well as her husbands aunt and uncle. Both
the aunt and uncle suffered from dementia and physical ailments.

Aunt took pride in being able to bathe herself and go to the toilet on her own. She could
fall down anywhere, but you couldnt reproach her. She suffered a severe burn in the bath when
she let the water boil. The hardest thing was to know when to intervene Diapers became
necessary, but were difficult for both her and me. They were a blow to her pride.

Mrs. Muraoka (64) quit her full-time job to care for her bedridden mother-in-law.

My husband was the one who decided to have his mother come live with us. I was
working, so she was to take care of the children for me. I thought it was a great idea. But when
she thought about it later, she felt she had made a mistake. Her rural life was gone. She has no
friends in Yokohama and was lonely. She poured all her affection into her grandchildren, for
twenty yearsHer raising the children while I worked was the most important thing. I cant
ever thank her enough. I owed it to her to look after her.

From Jenike, B.R., Gender and Duty in Japans Aged Society: The Experience of Family
Caregivers, The Cultural Context of Aging, 1997, pgs. 227-235.

10
A Good Nights Sleep

Yanagi Hiroo

Although she was well into middle age, my
wife enjoyed good health. She hadnt been
to a doctor for years. In fact, every year she
received a citation from my companys
health insurance society. After my aged
father came to live with us, though, she
began complaining of aches and pains,
probably because she was having to lift and
support him more and more often. She said
her hands and feet felt numb, that her
shoulders were stiff, that her back hurt. She
sometimes felt dizzy, too, maybe because
her blood pressure was rising.
Having to be at my fathers beck and call
from morning to night must have been
unbelievably stressful. She began making
frequent visits to a nearby clinic and coming
home laden down with tranquilizers, blood
pressure medication, pain killers, and so on.
One day she took my father to the clinic
because he had persistent diarrhea. That
night at dinner he said, Ive been feeling
funny lately. I think my foods being
poisoned. My wife blanched. I could tell
she was trembling with anger.
I do my best to fix food he likes, using
plenty of salt and miso to suit his taste.
Why do I have to take this kind of abuse?
Do you expect me to put up with this? Do
you expect me to keep taking care of him?
Why dont you talk to him and make him
behave? You leave everything to me while
you go off to your office. Why dont you
quit your job and take care of him yourself?
That would solve the problem. I tell you,
Ive just about had it. The only way my
wife could let off steam was to turn on me
all the frustration and fatigue of caring for
my father all day long. The only thing we
talked about was my father; every night I
heard the same dreary litany of complaints
and recriminations.

A company man for almost 30 years, I
knew absolutely nothing about welfare and
care services. I was beside myself with
worry, but I had no idea what to do. One
morning, on my way to work, I noticed a
poster with the phone number of a local
network providing care for the elderly. The
two of us cant handle it alone anymore.
Weve got to get outside help, I realized.
In desperation, I resolved to seek aid from
public welfare services.
If we wanted to admit the old man to a
nursing home temporarilywhat they call a
short stayor send him there for day care,
we had to take him to the institution to be
examined and had to get the institutions
approval. Several hundred people were
waiting in line for the same reason.
Its not surprising, I guess, that we had
to file applications and fill out a lot of other
forms to avail ourselves for public services.
But the months it took to complete the
procedures seemed unbearably long to us,
frazzled as we were by pondering the
unpleasant options: Should I quit my job?
Should we get divorced? Should we put my
father away somewhere? Conveniently
forgetting my own ignorance, I railed
against the slow pace of the bureaucracy.
A year after my wife had begun taking
care of my father, a helper began to come to
the house three times a week. The helper
and the visiting nurse sent by the clinic
encouraged my wife to keep going: You
mustnt give up. Were here to help you.
They seemed like angels of mercy to us,
fearful and tempted to succumb to despair as
we were.
Arrangements were made for my father
to spend two nights in a nearby nursing
home. After seeing him off, my wife and I
had our first good nights sleep in a year.
Was it only a year? It seemed like forever.
JAPAN ECHO, Special Issue, Vol. 23, The Graying Society, 1996.

11
Handout: Student Reading

Major Issues: Caring for Japans Aging Population

Japans population is aging more rapidly than any nation on earth. By the year 2025,
demographers predict that 27% of Japanese society will be 65 years or older. As in past
centuries, care for the elderly remains the primary responsibility of family members, and more
specifically, the women in the family.

The Model: According to the patrilineal model, parents would live with the eldest son and his
family until their death. The eldest son would become the head of the household, inheriting the
family property and business. Typically, men worked outside of the home, while women took
responsibility for domestic tasks, including care for elderly parents or parents-in-law. While
many working class and poor women worked outside of their homes, the model of the stay-at-
home housewife was the standard for all to follow.

Changes in Japanese society (late 20
th
century) that challenge the model: It has become
more difficult for wives and daughters to provide care for older adults because of the following
changes:

1) An increase in the number of Japanese who are 65 years or older. The decline in the
birth rate and the mortality rate have made it difficult for the smaller number of young people to
provide for the increasing number of older adults. Graph 1 shows the increasing percentage of
people over 65 in the last 15 years. Graph 1a shows the projected population structure for 2020.
Today, the Japanese continue to have the highest life expectancy in the world (76.3 for men and
82.8 for women) and a birth rate of 1.43 which is well below the population replacement level of
2.1.

2) An increase in single elderly households. More and more older people are living on their
own, without live-in family care or spousal care. Graph 2 shows how extended family
households have decreased and single elderly households have increased.

3) High rates of severely disabled elderly needing long term care. Japans population is
aging more rapidly than any country in the world. Improved living conditions and advances in
medical care have resulted in an increased longevity. People live longer, healthier lives, but
toward the end of their lives, they have longer periods of dependence on others. Over 4.9% of
the elderly population are bedridden.

4) Increase in the number of married women in the labor force. In 1995, women made up
40% of the national workforce. More than half of that 40% were women 40 years or older. The
middle-aged women who have been traditionally the care givers for the aging population are now
the largest group of women working outside the home. (See Graph 3)

Sources:
Jenike, B.R., Gender and Duty in Japans Aged Society: The Experience of Family Caregivers,
The Cultural Context of Aging, 1997.

Naohiro, O., When the Baby Boomers Grow Old, Japan Echo, Vol. 23, Special Issue: The
Graying Society, 1996.

12

0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000
P
e
r
c
e
n
t
0 -14 Years Old 15 - 64 Years Old 65 Years Old and Over
Change in Japanese Population Age Structure
1984 to 2000
Graph 1
Source: Population Census of Japan, Statistics Bureau and Statistics Center, Ministry of Public Management,
Home Affairs, Posts and Telecommunications, 2001.

13
Projected
Japanese Population Age Structure in 2020
4,682
5,022
5,391
5,808
6,016
6,282
6,837
7,716
8,533
9,709
8,550
7,745
7,257
7,996
8,896
6,771
5,078
3,460
1,702
541
114
0 2,000 4,000 6,000 8,000 10,000 12,000
00-04
05-09
10-14
15-19
20-24
25-29
30-34
35-39
40-44
45-49
50-54
55-59
60-64
65-69
70-74
75-79
80-84
85-89
90-94
95-99
100+
Y
e
a
r
s

O
l
d
(in thousands)
Total

Source: Population Projections for Japan, Japanese National Institute of Population and Social Security Research, 2002.
Graph 1a

14

9%
11%
12%
15%
16%
13%
16%
19%
21%
24%
78%
73%
69%
64%
60%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
1975 1980 1985 1990 1994
P
e
r
c
e
n
t

o
f

T
o
t
a
l

H
o
u
s
e
h
o
l
d
s

w
i
t
h

E
l
d
e
r
l
y
Single Elderly
Elderly Couple
Joint Households
Composition of Households with Persons 65 and Over in Japan
1975 - 1994
Graph 2
Source: Ministry of Health and Welfare, Survey of National Life, in Asahi Shimbun Japan Almanac, 1996:50.

15

Japanese Workers by Age Group 2001
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
15-19 20-24 25-29 30-34 35-39 40-44 45-49 50-54 55-59 60-64 65+
Years Old
(
t
e
n

t
h
o
u
s
a
n
d

p
e
r
s
o
n
s
)
Male
Female
Graph 3
Source: Population Census of Japan, Statistics Bureau and Statistics Center, Ministry of Public Management, Home Affairs,
Posts and Telecommunications, 2001.

16
Handout Assignment: Scenario

You have recently been hired by the Ministry of Health and Welfare in Japan, an important
government office in charge of addressing population issues. While the government is currently
working on public welfare programs, many older Japanese citizens consider government hand-
outs shameful and will not accept them.

What suggestions to you have to improve this situation? What should the government do to
provide for the increasing number of older people? What can families and communities offer?

1. First, do some research!
a) Read the first hand accounts of people who cared for their elderly family members.
b) Review the results of the survey of Japanese people regarding their feelings on aging issues.

2. Look at the government ideas already in the works. Two government fliers have been widely
distributed in your city. Identify the ideas expressed in these fliers.

3. Get together with other advisors (your student group) and propose some ideas. Be sure to
take notes.
a) What are your goals?
b) How will you (the Ministry of Health and Welfare) implement the goals?
c) How will you know if your plan(s) work?

5. Report your ideas to your superiors in a well-polished presentation (in class).

6. Below, write a brief written summary of your ideas.

Written summary of your ideas
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________

17
_______________________________
From Bergin & Garvey, The Cultural Context of Aging: Worldwide Perspectives, 1997.

18

_______________________________
From Bergin & Garvey, The Cultural Context of Aging: Worldwide Perspectives, 1997.

19
Handout Japanese Survey on Aging

The following results are from a survey conducted by the Mainichi Newspapers in September 1995 concerning
the issues of aging. Figures are percent: those in parentheses are for a similar survey conducted a year earlier.

1. Are you worried about old-age life?
Extremely 14 (14)
Somewhat 51 (48)
Not very 22 (23)
Not at all 3 (3)
Havent thought about it 9 (10)

2. I f you answered extremely or somewhat to
question 1, what worried you? (Choose up to two
items.)
Not having a prospect of finding suitable work 10 (11)
My health 24 (26)
Becoming senile or bedridden 40 (37)
Not being able to prepare sufficient savings or
other assets 38 (38)
Not receiving an adequate pension 41 (41)
Not having family to look after me 6 (6)
Not having anybody to talk to 1 (1)
Not having a house or facility to live in 3 (3)

3. Who do you expect to be your principal care provider if
you become senile or bedridden?
Spouse 43 (45)
Daughter-in-law 7 (7)
Son 5 (6)
Daughter 11 (13)
Other family member 1 (1)
Housekeeper 1 (0)
Public home helper or visiting nurse 9 (8)
Care providers at facilities for the elderly or
hospitals 21 (16)

4. Where would you like to live if you become infirm in
your old age?
Own home 57 (62)
Hospital 11 (13)
Facility for the elderly 30 (22)

5. I f you answered own home to question 4, how
would you like your care to be provided?
Entirely by family members 29
Mainly by family members, with assistance
from home helpers and others from outside 53
Mainly by home helpers and others from others
from outside with the cooperation of family
members 15
Entirely by home helpers and others from
outside 2
6. I f you answered hospital or facility for the elderly
to question 4, why is that your preference? (Choose up
to two items.)
Have no family 6
Family members dont want to provide care 1
Family members are too busy working 7
Family members are not strong enough 5
Dont want to trouble family members 71
Home is too small for provision of care 6
Specialized care is available at facilities 46

7. What sources of income do you expect to support you
in your old age? (Choose up to three items.)
Employment earnings 32 (32)
Public pensions 81 (85)
Severance benefits & pensions from employer 28 (28)
Savings, life insurance, bonds, stocks 47 (50)
Help from children, grandchildren, relatives 7 (7)
Income from apartments, real estate 4 (4)
Dont know 6 (6)

8. Do you think it is primarily the responsibility of
family members or of the government to provide
care for you if you become infirm in your old age?
Family members 59
Government 35

9. What should be the principal source of funding for
the improvements that must be made in care-
providing services and facilities to prepare for the
highly aged population of the twenty-first century?
Taxes 24
Social insurance premiums 47
Payments by users 20

10. The possibility is now being considered of
establishing a system of public care insurance
under which participants would pay premiums and
would in return be eligible in their old age (in
principle age 65 or over) to receive home care
services (home helpers, daytime service) and to use
homes and other facilities for the elderly. Do you
approve or disapprove of such a system?
Approve 87 (86)
Disapprove 8 (9)

20
Handout

When the Baby Boomers Grow Old
Ogawa Naohiro

The share of Japans population aged 65 or over was
steady at about 6% during the Meiji era (1868-1912).
When the first national census was taken in 1920, the
figure had dropped slightly to 5.3%, and the decline
continued through 1935, when the 65-plus group fell
to 4.7% of the total. Since then, however, the
percentage has been rising steadily. In 1970 the share
of seniors topped the 7% mark. At this point Japan
may be said to have joined the ranks of the worlds
aging nations. But neither the government nor the
media noted this development; their attention was
focused on the problems of pollution that had emerged
as a byproduct of rapid economic growth. In the years
that followed, however, as the economy slowed and
the aging of the population accelerated, this issue
finally began attracting concern.
Early in the 1980s, the government came out with
a report titled 2000 nen no Nihon (Japan in the Year
2000) in which it identified aging as one of the key
issues for the nation in the twenty-first century, along
with internationalization and the information
revolution. In 1990 the 65-plus share reached 12%,
and since then the aging process has picked up even
more speed. Now the newspapers carry stories
relating to this issue on virtually a daily basis.

AN INEXORABLE PROCESS

The aging of a populationthe relative decline in the
number of young people and relative increase in the
number of old peopleis a phenomenon that occurs
when the birth rate declines and life expectancy
increases.
In Japans case, 1947-49 marked the peak of the
post-war baby boom, with 2.7 million births a year.
At this stage the total fertility rate, defined as the
average number of children born to a woman during
her lifetime, was 4.5. But the following 10 years
brought an unprecedented halving of the rate to 2
children per woman. The figure then remained steady
at that level for some time, but following the oil shock
of the early 1970s and the subsequent slowdown of
economic growth, fertility started falling again, and by

1993 the rate was only 1.46 births per woman. The
following year saw the figure rise slightly to 1.50, but
it is hard to judge whether this most recent figure
represents a reversal of the long-term trend. The
increase in outlays for womens education and the
growth in womens employment may in fact cause
fertility to resume its decline.
Just as the birth rate has been dropping, so has the
death rate. In 1948 the average life expectancy at birth
was 55.6 years for males and 59.4 for females; in
1994 the average lifespan had risen to 76.6 for males
and 83.0 for females. Both men and women in Japan
now enjoy the worlds longest life expectancies.
Figure 1 shows the number of births annually
from 1947 to 1994. Figure 2, produced by rotating the
same graph 90 degrees clockwise, represents the
hypothetical population of adults 20 years from now,
assuming zero mortality. The decline of the death rate
is bringing Japan ever closer to this sort of top-heavy
population structure. Since artificially increasing
mortality is out of the question, the advent of an aged
society may be pronounced a demographic certainty.
According to the projections of our Population
Research Institute at Nihon University, the total
population of Japan, which stood at 123.6 million as
of the 1990 census, will rise slowly to a peak of 128.6
million in 2007, then decline to 121.7 million by
2025. Incidentally, 70% of the people who are
expected to be alive in 2025 have already been born.
This fact allows us to predict the size of the
population 35 years into the future with a good degree
of confidence.
The shrinking population will mean fewer
consumers; corporations are thus liable to hold back
on investment in production facilities. And decreased
investment in housing may end once and for all the
myth of ever-rising land prices.
The number of seniors will outstrip the number of
minors (14 or under) in 1998, and by 2020 there will
be two old people for every child. In 2025 the 65-plus
share of the population will reach 27%, giving Japan
the worlds most aged population structure.

21

Another development that will take place in the
decades ahead is a rise in the proportion of those aged
75 or over. Now 40% of the aged fall into this
category, but by 2018 Japan is expected to lead the
world in its share of advanced seniors, and in 2025 the
proportion will be almost 57% of the aged population.
The burden that younger generations will have to bear
in caring for the infirm among these 21
st
century
Japanese seniors can be expected to be heavier than
ever before in human history.
The speed of this aging process will also set a new
world record. The 65-plus share of the population
reached 10% in 1985 and will reach 20% in 2007,
doubling in a mere 22 years. When we consider that
in Sweden and Germany, which have already
experienced considerable population aging, the same
sort of doubling has taken about 70 years, Japans
pace is almost frighteningly fast.
Furthermore, when Japan reaches the 20% mark,
it will be the only country in the world with such a
large share of old people. Ever since the Meiji era we
have modernized our country by observing Western
models, but from 2007 on we will have nobody to
imitate. For the first time in history we will have to
create our own models in dealing with the huge
elderly population. This will be a challenge for a
nation that is said to excel at making money but to lag
in creativity.

OLDER AND OLDER

Looking at the rate of increase of the elderly
population by age group since the start of the 1990s,
we find that the number of people aged 65-74 has
risen 4.4% a year, the 75-84 group has increased 2.8%
a year, and the 85-and-over group has grown the
fastest, at an annual rate of 5.5%. This trendthe
aging of the aged, so to speakwill be continuing for
the next 30 years. Clearly the needs of 85-year-olds
differ from those of 65-year-olds. National and local
government bodies should take into account the rising
share of senior seniors in planning how best to
use their limited resources for the aged.
Within the 85-plus category, the fastest-growing
group is centenarians. Back in 1963, only 153
Japanese were 100 years old or over, but in 1994, the
number was 5,593, and it is increasing by 13% a year.
This is a dramatic rate for a nation whose total
population is growing at an annual rate of less than
0.3%.
People reaching their hundredth birthdays
currently receive a silver cup from the prime minister.
But if the number of centenarians continues to rise at
this rapid pace, it may become necessary to shift from
silver to bronze, and maybe even to wood! On
Respect for the Aged Day (September 15) last year,
there was a story in the media about a 100-year-old
geisha; in the years ahead cases like this may cease to
be newsworthy.
As of the end of 1992 there was only one
centenarian with a drivers license, but if current
drivers keep renewing their licenses, there will be 22
centenarians eligible to drive in the year 2000 and
over 17,000 in 2025. Last January a car traveling the
wrong way on a divided highway in Gunma
Prefecture caused an accident involving three other
vehicles. The driver turned out to be a mentally
infirm 82-year-old who could not remember either his
destination or his own address. And when the police
finally found out where he lived and contacted his
wife, they discovered that she was also suffering from
senile dementia. This accident, a tragedy produced by
the combination of the automobile and aging, is a
harbinger of what the twenty-first century holds in
store for us unless we rethink our licensing
requirements and improve our traffic safety systems.

WHO WILL CARE FOR US?

Our institute at Nihon University has also made
projections for the number of aged people who will be
bedridden or mentally infirm. As of 1990, there were
810,000 bedridden seniors; in 2000 the number will
be 1.2 million, and in 2025 it will be 2.3 million. The
mentally infirm, meanwhile, will grow in number
from 1.0 million in 1990 to 1.5 million in 2000 and
3.2 million in 2025, increasing even faster than the
bedridden. The reason for this is the fact that the 85-
plus age group, for which the chances of suffering
senile dementia are much higher than those of
becoming bedridden, will continue to be the fastest-
growing category among the aged.

22
We also calculated the likelihood that nonworking
women (mainly full-time homemakers) will find
themselves having to care for bedridden or mentally
impaired seniors. Figure 3 presents the results by age
groups. As this graph shows, women in their forties
will face a tremendously increased demand to provide
home care for the aged in the coming century. Thanks
to the baby boom, there are now many women in their
late forties capable of providing home care. But as the
baby boomers age and gradually change from care
providers to care receivers, they will place a heavy
burden on their juniors, especially the fortysomethings
of the future. In statistical terms, as of 1990, only 1 out
of every 15 nonworking women in their forties was
providing home care for the elderly, but in 2005 the
share will be 1 in 5, or 20%, and in 2025 it may be close
to 50%.
What we should note here is that the 40-year-old
women of 2025 are now girls in elementary school. The
value systems that they have been forming are radically
different from those of todays 40-year-olds, and they
are likely to achieve a much higher level of education.
Back in the mid-1960s, only 2% of women in their
forties had graduated from universities or junior
colleges. Today, the share is 16%, and in another 20
years it will be over 40%. So by 2025, even if almost
half the nonworking women in their forties are willing
to provide home care for the elderly, the contents of this
care are likely to be different from that at present. We
should not pin excessive hopes on this group.
Our projections suggest that it will not be possible
to come up with effective solutions for the problem of
aging merely by considering the respective numbers of
seniors requiring care and younger people able to
provide it. The age of information is producing
breathtakingly fast change and diversification in value
systems, and in considering how to deal with the rapid
aging of the population, we must have a clear picture of
these shifts.
If we cannot expect todays children to look after us
when we grow old, how about our spouses? The
question for husbands in this case is whether they can
avoid being divorced. The divorce rate in Japan has
been going up; for women under 50 the rate is now
more than twice what it was in the 1960s. The level is
still not high by Western standards, but neither is it
negligibly low.
A survey conducted in 1988 revealed a definite
correlation between womens taking jobs and their
increased likelihood of seeking a divorce. In this poll,

Figure 1. Births in Japan, 1947-94
Figure 2. Population by Age, 2014.
Assuming Zero Mortality

23
based on a nationwide sample of 3,000 adult women,
the wives most likely to declare that they had considered
divorcing their husbands were ones who had given up
their place as full-time homemakers and taken full-time
jobs instead. Interestingly, having taken a part-time job
did not greatly increase the risk of divorce. So husbands
coming home drunk who are greeted by wives who tell
them, Ive decided to start working, had better have a
glass of water, compose themselves, and ask, full-time
or part-time? And if the answer if full-time, they
should realize that the situation is dangerous and that
they may not be able to count on having the wife look
after them in their old age.
In any case, considering that the working-age
population is going to start shrinking in 2001 and that
working hours are tending to decrease, there is a good
chance that the number of women taking jobs outside
the home will continue to increase as a long-term trend,
even though factors like the hollowing out of the
industrial structure may affect the job picture. And the
more women join the labor force, the more self-reliant
they will become. Husbands will no longer be able to
expect their wives to play the role of unpaid servants.

THE EXTENDED FAMILYS DECLINE

There is now talk of introducing a public system of
homecare insurance. But unless the benefits paid under
such a system are considerable, it may not be possible to
get wives or children to look after their aged husbands
or parents. The outlook seems bleak when we consider
that the wages such care providers will have to give up
in order to stay home are rising and will probably
continue to do so in the years to come.
In order to improve this bleak outlook, there is an
urgent need to reconsider the traditional gender-based
division of responsibilities between husband and wife
and to build a participatory relationship between the
sexes not just in society as a whole, but also at the level
of the family. Achieving this sort of change is of course
easier said than done, but given the historically
unprecedented halving of the fertility rate that took
place in Japan in the 1950s and the similarly
unprecedented speed of the aging process in our
population, the time has come to adjust our family
structures accordingly.
The shape of the Japanese family may change
dramatically in the decades ahead, but at this point it is
still quite different from that of families in Europe and
America. According to a study conducted by the
Management and Coordination Agency in 1990, the

Figure 3. Share of Nonworking Women
Expected to Care for Infirm Seniors
Figure 4. Population Structure Required to Hold
Aged Share Steady, 2013

24
share of the population aged 60 or over who were living
in three-generation households was only about 1% in
Britain and the United States and 3% in Germany, but
32% in Japan.
When children live with their aged parents in Japan,
the assumption is often that they will receive the family
home in return for the provision of care. In 1993, the
Mainichi Newspapers conducted a nationwide survey
that yielded interesting results in this connection. It
found that among married men and women aged 20-59,
the share who hoped to live with their children in their
old age was markedly lower for condominium dwellers
than those living in single-family houses. This reflects
both the smaller size of condominiums and their lower
value as assets to be traded for old-age care. And
those who did not hope to live together were more
inclined to agree with the idea that assets should be used
up rather than left behind. The number of condominium
dwellers has been on the rise since the 1970s, and so we
can expect a further decline in the prevalence of
extended families.
With the loosening of blood ties, it will become
increasingly important for people to build relationships
outside the family, using hobbies, for example, as the
basis for expanding their personal network of friends.
The degree to which individuals are able to use their
free time skillfully to build surrogate family ties is likely
to have a major impact on their lives when they get old.

REDEFINING OLD AGE

Based on the projections we have been considering, the
year 2007 seems likely to mark a significant juncture for
Japan. This is the year when the aged share of the
population will top the 20% mark and when the total
population will start declining significantly. It is also at
around this point that the baby boomers will start
reaching retirement age, which is liable to produce the
worst pinch ever in finding postretirement jobs.
Furthermore, the low fertility rate will probably result in
the worlds most serious shortage of children to support
aged parents. And the combined burden to taxes and
social security premiums will climb above 45% for the
working population, reaching 50% seven years later in
2014.
Recently some people have been suggesting that we
must halt the aging of the population by raising the
fertility rate. But suppose we wanted to freeze the share
of the elderly when it reaches Swedens level of 17% at
the end of the century. Our institute projected the
number of births that would be required to accomplish
this. As of 2013 it becomes impossible to derive a
realistic solution because the baby boomers start joining
the ranks of the elderly in such large numbers. And
even in the years up to 2013, the number of births
required would be so large as to produce a wildly
lopsided population pyramid (Figure 4.)
If increased fertility alone cannot halt the aging of
the population structure, perhaps we should consider
changing the definition of aged. Keeping the aged share
from exceeding 17% would require shifting the starting
point to age 69 as of 2010 and to 73 as of 2025. In other
words, we would have to raise the threshold by eight
years during the first quarter of the twenty-first century,
restructuring our employment and social security
systems accordingly. But given the improvement in the
health consciousness of todays older people, it is not
unrealistic to expect them to be able to wait until they
are 73 before retiring and starting to collect pensions.
As the worlds fastest-aging nation, we must quickly
achieve a consensus on revamping the institutions of our
society, including the government, the company, and the
family, so as to meet the demands that the baby boomers
will bring upon reaching old age.

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