POPULATION-JAPAN: Small is Beautiful in Elderly Care

By Suvendrini Kakuchi Reprint | | Print |

Suvendrini Kakuchi

TOKYO, Nov 15 2002 (IPS) - Japan’s lucrative market for caring for seniors is seeing fast-growing demand for ‘group homes’, family-size nursing homes that many find more attuned to local traditions of looking after their elderly kin.

”The new thrust in the market is small is beautiful. The huge appeal of going back to the community is hot for the welfare business,” said Yoshikazu Nishikawa, spokesman for the non-profit organisation Japan Group for the Elderly Afflicted with Dementia.

The non-profit group was started in 2000 to coincide with the government’s privatisation of social welfare services and adoption of a nursing care insurance system for the rapidly climbing number of elderly in this country of 127 million people.

A survey by the Nihon University Population Research Institute indicates that one-third of the Japanese population, 37.3 million people, will be 65 years or older by 2025, given the country’s falling birth rate.

Increasingly, elderly Japanese like Midori Kano, 90, are relying on smaller group homes to provide them care and companionship. Kano moved from a large nursing home after she slipped and became partially paralysed.

The group home has worked well for her by looking after her special needs, her daughter Keiko said. ”It was hard to have my mother being looked after by strangers. But her condition has improved, so I am happy.”

Sixty year-old Chieko Nakayama, who lost her husband three years ago, said she has no qualms about moving into a group home.

”I do not want to burden my children. The idea of living in a group home, where I can have my privacy while still being cared for by trained staff, appeals to me very much,” she said.

There are some 2,400 group homes catering to senior citizens over 65 in the country, with 3,000 more expected next year, according to the health and welfare ministry.

Thirty percent of these homes belong to large corporations, but individual investors cashing in on the community image are also proving to be tough competitors.

Experts point out that despite the entrance of sophisticated and private nursing homes, the rising popularity of small homes providing 24-hour service to five to nine residents, resonates strongly in Japanese culture.

While small homes are still a new concept here in Japan, they fit well with local traditions under which care for the elderly is the responsibility of the family members.

”Customers are looking for a homely atmosphere that is not too expensive,” said Takahiro Sugiyama, who operates the Kawasaki Clinic. ”A home that provides this special care is particularly acceptable to the public because it resembles traditional family care.”

As a result, the nursing care business has been booming. According to a board of audit survey reported in the local media, nursing care facilities are making profits of 2.8 million yen (23,000 U.S. dollars) monthly and have been pouring money into group homes.

”Older Japanese are important customers. Businesses, both big and small, are keen to grab a share of the growing pie,” said Nishikawa.

Apart from the fact that elderly make up a third of the population, they also have the biggest savings in this industrialised economy. Those over 60 years of age hold the bulk of the nation’s savings of 1,400 trillion yen (11 trillion dollars).

At the same time, government surveys suggest that an increasing number of elderly are living alone and that the number of solitary deaths are on the rise – prompting many to look for homes that would provide the elderly with an environment with friends, companionship and social support.

In 2000, the national suicide rate for people aged 90 and over was 47.8 per 100,000 people, compared to 20 per 100,000 people for those in their twenties.

An official with the Tokyo metropolitan government said that from an investor’s point of view, the main attraction in group homes is the smaller investment outlay they need relative to the much larger nursing ones.

Also, those applying to get into group homes have to be in fair health and not be bedridden, for instance, so this eases the investments and resources needed to provide care.

Compact group homes are required to provide private rooms for residents and have a minimum ratio of three caregivers for every five residents. Official inspections are conducted once a year.

Seniors pay between 100,000 to 200,000 yen (828 to 1,656 dollars) each, per month, in service, food and rent. Nursing care insurance covers about 20 percent of these costs.

Akihiro Minamikawa, owner of three group homes in Hyogo prefecture in western Japan, said he invested 30 million yen (248,000 dollars) in his homes two years ago and has almost recovered his capital.

His homes accept people suffering from dementia and offers residents the advantage of following their own timetables, in contrast to nursing homes that have stringent schedules that often prove to be disadvantageous to and disruptive for the elderly.

”Already I have a waiting list,” said Minamikawa, who is planning to build four more new homes.

In many ways, the rising popularity of group homes has boosted the importance of community in Japan’s highly industrialised society.

”The silver market is largely unexploited and the focus on group homes has turned the spotlight to linking business with community,” said Nishikawa.

POPULATION-JAPAN: Small is Beautiful in Elderly Care

By Suvendrini Kakuchi Reprint | | Print |

Suvendrini Kakuchi

TOKYO, Nov 15 2002 (IPS) - Japan’s lucrative market for caring for seniors is seeing fast-growing demand for ‘group homes’, family-size nursing homes that many find more attuned to local traditions of looking after their elderly kin.
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