Long Term Care in Japan’s Aging Society

How to take care of frail older people is a crucial issue in all advanced nations. The Japanese version of Pflegeversicherung, Kaigo Hoken, celebrates its 10th birthday this year. Unlike the German program, which seeks to support family caregiving through cash payments, Japan tries to relieve family members by providing formal services only. Kaigo Hogen is larger than the German program both in enrolling many more people and providing higher benefits. Such differences may be related to social and cultural explanations as well as reasons of politics and administration.

John Creighton Campbell is Professor Emeritus of Political Science at the University of Michigan and Visiting Professor in the Institute of Gerontology at Tokyo University. He is the author of Contemporary Japanese Budget Politics, How Policies Change: The Japanese Government and the Aging Society, and (with Naoki Ikegami) The Art of Balance in Health Policy: Maintaining Japan‘s Low-Cost, Egalitarian System (all also available in Japanese).