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Asian Countries can Learn from
Japan's Lessons
Asahi Shimbun
Japan
January 18, 2005
(SINO net)
Japan's birthrate fell to a record low of 1.29 per woman in 2003. But the alarming demographic picture of this country is far from the exception in this part of the world.
The birthrate has fallen below 1.20 in South Korea. Its population is set to gray at an even quicker pace than Japan, which has been aging faster than any other country.
Tragedies caused by the strain of an aging society abound in South Korea. A 90-year-old exhausted from taking care of his wife tried to kill her and himself. Old parents who had devoted themselves to giving their children a good education have sued their sons and daughters for failing to provide good care for them.
The traditional reliance on the family for welfare and support has delayed the development of facilities for elderly people in South Korea. Confronted by the prospect of rapid aging of the nation, the South Korean government plans to introduce a public nursing care insurance program in 2007, borrowing ideas from Japan's plan.
Against this backdrop, a symposium on nursing care for the elderly was recently held in Seoul. The symposium, organized jointly by citizen groups of Japan and South Korea, attracted a number of government officials, researchers and interested citizens from both countries.
Five years after the nursing care insurance system was put into force, debates are now raging in Japan over various problems with the program, including the issue of expanding its scope and contributor base to include younger generations.
A former senior official of the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare who was involved in building up the nursing insurance program told the symposium that it is difficult to radically change a system once it has been established. The former official urged South Korean participants to get the entire nation involved in exhaustive debate on the basic framework of the system.
Members of a Japanese group of women dedicated to the well-being of old people reported that while job opportunities are increasing in the area of welfare, the turnover of staff for at-home nursing care is generally high because of the low wages and a high ratio of women among care workers. In both Japan and South Korea, elderly people are often looked after at home by the wives of their sons. The group's warning that the situation could force many married women to serve as ``the wives of society'' bearing the burden of caring for elderly people evoked sympathetic responses from the audience.
We hope South Korea will create a better system by learning from Japan's experiences and problems.
South Korea, though, is not the only country paying close attention to Japan's nursing care insurance and welfare for the aged. China's population surpassed 1.3 billion early this year. The government's one-child policy has curbed the population growth, but at the cost of rapid aging of the nation. The birthrates in other fast-growing economies in the region, such as Taiwan, Singapore and Hong Kong, are also lower than the Japanese figure. Many East Asian nations are facing the same problem of declining birthrates and aging population.
All these countries and areas are trapped in a gap between their Confucian culture, which regards it as children's duty to take care of their parents, and dramatic changes in society and the family system.
There are many ways Japan can help other countries and areas grappling with the same demographic challenge. First of all, Japan can supply precious lessons by frankly explaining the numerous successes and failures in its policy efforts for the pension and nursing insurance programs and new local initiatives to support elderly members of the community.
Japan also has a lot to learn from other countries' experiences. The South Korean government, for instance, has been hiring a large number of welfare experts. The culture of volunteer work and donations is deeply embedded in the nation's society.
Singapore's medical care system for elderly people is quite instructive. Parks in Shanghai are filled with old people who enjoy teaching school subjects and games to children after school.
If countries are really committed to the welfare of old people, there can be greater and wider cooperation among parties concerned to make an aging society better off.
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