Abstract
This paper will discuss the development of Japan’s older adult volunteerism and how today’s older adult volunteerism needs to change in the face of a super-aging society coupled with changing social and economic needs. How Japanese organizations and communities can promote and sustain senior volunteerism will be examined in terms of four aspects of institutional capacity: access, information, incentives, and facilitation. The paper suggests that senior volunteerism is necessary for Japan’s aging society to provide meaning in later life, and sustain good health and well-being. However, to encourage volunteerism among aging baby-boomers, Japan needs to alter its traditional approaches, such as its top-down approach to organizing volunteerism and its focus on moral citizenship. With unique lives and experiences, the largely middle class baby-boomer generation will probably seek an experience of older adulthood different than that of their predecessors. Social work in Japan needs to expand its professional boundaries beyond poverty work to support the diverse needs of the aging population.
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Notes
Although the word “rojin” or elderly is not an appropriate term, it has been used here as well as others to distinguish the older policies from the newer policies which use the word “koreisha” or older adults.
Which claim to be non-governmental entities but are difficult to untie from local governments due to funding and personnel.
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Chen, LM. Senior Volunteerism in Japan: A Policy Perspective. Ageing Int 38, 97–107 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12126-012-9168-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12126-012-9168-x