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The Enigma of Japanese Ageing-in-Place Practice in the Information Age: Does Digital Gadget Help the (Good) Practice for Inter-Generation Care?

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Abstract

Against the background of Japanese demographic transition towards a very aged one: 22% (and 10%) of the population are aged 65 or above (and 75 or above) in mid-2008, the socio-familial reluctance for ageing-in-institutions, and the limited (already the inadequacy of) institutional care, ageing-in-place is both the socio-familial desirable and the policy solution. This paper examines the coping strategies of Japanese society, in the shortage of caring services, with socio-techno innovations derived from information and communication technologies (ICT), towards ageing-in-place. Mobile phone and e-communications promise for borderless, flexible and ubiquitous contacts: real time, round-the-clock, anytime and anywhere, making the geo-spatial conditions irrelevant and for all age groups, but are these offerings for the beneficiaries of an ageing society? Mobile communicative gadgets become social necessity for most Japanese and they are used for intensive social networking; for instance, the mobile phone's role in friendship-building among younger generations—but what about the senior adults for the place anchorage for active ageing? This paper examines and discusses the socio-familial-spatial (social networking, location and place) relevance of mobile communication, emphasizing the use of ICT and mobile communication by/with/for ageing population, for realizing the benefits of ageing-in-place. It especially considers elderly and their families, in the need for socially and geo-spatially fixed anchors (the essence of ageing-in-place), despite (or perhaps because of) the ‘mobility’ through ICT. Our key observations: the trend towards the intensification of ICT use, though affecting differential inter-personal relationship, evidently enables the practice for ageing-in-place in the information age.

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Notes

  1. This is a nationwide interview-questionnaire survey commissioned by Japanese government, with sample size of 6,000 (response rate: 65.7%), by stratified random sampling of 1,000 samples for each 10-year cohort from age 20 or above to age 59, plus to 2,000 samples for age 60 or above, conducted during 27.Feburary to 14.March 2004.Details refer to DG-PCS 2004a.

  2. This is a nationwide interview-questionnaire survey commissioned by Japanese government, with sample size of 4,000 (response rate: 71.5%), by stratified random sampling for age 60, conducted during 4.December to 23.December 2003. Details refer to DG-PCS 2004b.

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Acknowledgments

This is derived from an on-going project: Comparing Welfare Regimes and Social Policy Changes in a Globalizing World, generously funded by the Kwansei Gakuin University (KGU) Special Research Fund. The author has been benefited from continuing academic supports from the honorary professorship (social administration & social work) and honorary research fellowship (environmental management & urban planning) both at The University of Hong Kong; stimulations from Professors Iris Chi, Ernest Chui, James E. Katz, Kristof Nyiri, Joe CB Leung, Ritsuko Watanabe and Yu-Cheung Wong, Dr. Edward Leung, and research assistance of Shizuka Abe. The normal disclaimer applies.

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  1. School of Policy Studies, Kwansei Gakuin University, Japan, 2-1 Gakuen, Sanda, Hyogo, 669-1337, Japan

    On-Kwok Lai

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Lai, OK. The Enigma of Japanese Ageing-in-Place Practice in the Information Age: Does Digital Gadget Help the (Good) Practice for Inter-Generation Care?. Ageing Int. 32, 236–255 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12126-008-9017-0

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