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Population Aging and Health of Older People in Japan: Introduction of Health Issues and Care System for the Elderly

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Health Issues and Care System for the Elderly

Abstract

Population aging is due to the increased number of older people living longer as well as the decreased birthrate. The improvement of public health and advances in medicine after World War II have given Japan one of the highest life expectancies in the world, while the emancipation of women following World War II has increased opportunities for higher education and gainful employment outside of the home, which may lead to advancing of late marriages and late birth and may influence the lower birthrate in Japan. Population aging has increased the costs of health and social care for older people, which have led to an interest in how to promote health in older people as well as how to define successful aging. Since the Confucian norm is shared among Japan and other East Asian countries, the experience of Japan may give readers useful information about how to cope with the population aging in other non-Western countries. In this chapter, we would like to introduce the experience of Japan and consider the public health problems in the aging society.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Nursing, Fukuoka University, Fukuoka City, Fukuoka, Japan

    Ikuko Miyabayashi

  2. Department of Community Health and Clinical Epidemiology, St. Mary’s College, Kurume City, Fukuoka, Japan

    Masakazu Washio

  3. Advanced Midwifery Course, St. Mary’s College, Kurume City, Fukuoka, Japan

    Tomoko Yanagimoto

  4. Department of Languages and Culture, St. Mary’s College, Kurume City, Fukuoka, Japan

    Eric Fortin

  5. Department of Public Health, Fukushima Medical University School of Medicine, Fukushima City, Fukushima, Japan

    Seiji Yasumura

Authors
  1. Ikuko Miyabayashi
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  2. Masakazu Washio
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  3. Tomoko Yanagimoto
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  4. Eric Fortin
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  5. Seiji Yasumura
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Masakazu Washio .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. St. Mary’s College , Kurume, Fukuoka, Japan

    Masakazu Washio

  2. Department of Preventive Medicine, Kyushu University Graduate School of Medicine, Higashi-ku, Fukuoka, Japan

    Chikako Kiyohara

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Miyabayashi, I., Washio, M., Yanagimoto, T., Fortin, E., Yasumura, S. (2019). Population Aging and Health of Older People in Japan: Introduction of Health Issues and Care System for the Elderly. In: Washio, M., Kiyohara, C. (eds) Health Issues and Care System for the Elderly. Current Topics in Environmental Health and Preventive Medicine. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-1762-0_1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-1762-0_1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Singapore

  • Print ISBN: 978-981-13-1761-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-981-13-1762-0

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