Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Ageing in Japan'

The thesis is concerned with the impact of population ageing on the future trends of male employment and unemployment in Japan, since it is thought that rising unemployment amongst older people will increase the dependency rate, leading to a reduction in capital accumulation and slower economic growth. The study is based on material and data obtained while researching in Japan for one year and draws heavily on Japanese-language sources. First, the role of rapidly falling fertility in stimulating economic growth in Japan is examined, followed by a detailed analysis of employment practices across different sizes of company in Japan that draws on surveys published by government and private institutions. It is found that existing analyses of Japanese employment practices ignore the importance of workforce age structure in internal labour markets. An efficiency age structure hypothesis that stresses labour demand rigidities is formulated: it is hypothesised that large firms with internal labour markets attempt to maintain a given internal age structure to maximise workforce efficiency. This behaviour implies that as the population ages, the unemployment rate of older men will rise. The implications of this hypothesis are examined at a micro level through an analysis of the adjustments firms have made to employment practices; and at the macro level through an analysis of the macro labour market. The absorptive capacity of small companies and self-employment for older men was examined using cohort analysis. Finally the impact of government policy on the labour market for older men is examined and assessed. Government policy is divided into two main categories: labour market intervention and public pension reform. The thesis indicates that raising the pension eligibility age will not reduce dependency unless employment practices that generate unemployment of older people are changed.

The rapid ageing of Japan’s population is occurring in the midst of accelerating social change, causing a rethinking about what it means to grow old. Some older Japanese are pioneering new models for ageing through their involvement in groups known as time banks. These are non-profit organisations which trade time, a universal possession, rather than conventional currency for services. Time given in volunteering is banked for future redemption as assistance for the giver, with points paid per hour. This first study of the impact of time banks on the lives of older Japanese members aims to chart how such groups can help both their senior members and society as a whole.¶ Time banks now exist across the globe but the world’s first time bank was established in 1973 by a Japanese woman. She aspired to create a new form of currency that could give people greater control of their lives and foster warmer community links. The benefits that older time bank members derive include formation of new friendship networks to replace those lost by retirement and the chance to use old skills and learn new ones. Time banks can generate a new form of social capital that fosters traditional Japanese reciprocity and has ikigai or ‘sense of meaning in life’ as one of its main pillars.¶ This research is based on both three-months of fieldwork in Japan and an extensive literature review in Japanese, English and Chinese. It has been by aided by accessibility to the thoughts of the founders of four major time banks through their books and also by their group web sites. My study follows on from an MPhil thesis that compared ageing in China and Japan and draws on my experience living in Japan for 10 years between 1979 and 1991 in both Kansai and Kanto.¶ The literature indicates that social participation is a crucial component for maintaining both psychological and physical health in the later years. While this is a qualitative study and there is yet to be a qualitative review of the effects of time banks in Japan, feedback I received from older members of the first time bank shows that time banks can foster a meaningful later life. ¶ The 21st century has been dubbed that of the aged as greater mass longevity boosts their numbers to unprecedented levels. This thesis questions whether organizations such as time banks can make a significant difference to the quality of life that older people enjoy in this new era. The theoretical framework examines whether the social exchange that these groups nurture can enhance the social capital of their communities, creating a positive image for ageing.

Amidst widespread concerns about aging on several levels ranging from the personal to the societal, this dissertation examines the construction of meaning in life and older age in contemporary Japan. Based on an ethnographic account of a community salon in Southern Osaka, it explores the experiences of older people and their ideas of the good and meaningful life, while arguing that than an anthropology of the elderly can reveal a far wider scope of issues than aging alone. Drawing on a socio-narratological approach, I show how stories connect people, form a shared body of knowledge, inform our understanding of the everyday, and provide frameworks for our choices. I argue that the capacity of narratives to create coherence and make sense of seemingly random and unconnected events can help to reveal existential issues, and that narrative analysis may therefore be a powerful tool for creating an existential anthropology capable of elucidating and understanding deeply personal dilemmas in their social and cultural context. The ethnography and life stories of elderly salon goers, volunteers and others involved in a local Non-Profit Organisation raise important issues of autonomy and dependence, sociality and isolation, care and concern. People express concern for others through practices ranging from gift-giving, visiting, balanced forms of polite yet friendly discourse, the provision of information, and volunteering in the salon and beyond. I argue that older Japanese are as much providers of care as recipients of it, thereby challenging the constructed image of the elderly as frail and dependent, even though maintaining independence relies paradoxically on cultivating multiple dependencies on others. Navigating the tensions between the benefits of rich social ties and a desired level of separation in which the burden imposed is minimised, or between dependence and freedom, emerges as central to the balancing acts required for living well.

This thesis examines how rapid demographic, social and economic changes are impacting on traditional care for the urban aged in China and Japan as both experience world record rates of ageing caused by greater longevity and lower birth rates. The challenge for their governments is to foster active contribution by the healthy aged to society and protection for the frail aged. China lags behind Japan in special treatment for senior citizens. The manner in which these two countries handle the ageing of their populations could provide valuable lessons for Australia in the future.

This thesis examines how rapid demographic, social and economic changes are impacting on traditional care for the urban aged in China and Japan as both experience world record rates of ageing caused by greater longevity and lower birth rates. The challenge for their governments is to foster active contribution by the healthy aged to society and protection for the frail aged. China lags behind Japan in special treatment for senior citizens. The manner in which these two countries handle the ageing of their populations could provide valuable lessons for Australia in the future.

This study applies a poststructural discourse analysis developed by Carol Bacchi, called the WPR-approach, on Japanese ageing society-related policy. It utilises Foucauldian ideas about how policy creates rather than discovers ‘problems’ through representation, and what effects this can have. The purpose of the study is to analyse how the problems around women and immigration are represented in Japanese policy, if this representation has been affected by the ageing society, and what effects it may have on the people and politics of the country. The results show that both women and immigrants are mainly represented as resources for economic growth. Policy proposals show signs of having been affected by the ageing society, but the representation in the policies indicate that underlying social ideas about gender and immigration are not addressed. A conclusion is drawn that this focus may result in a lack of politics which tackle harmful traditional gender norms and xenophobia.

Les couronnes périurbaines des métropoles du Japon, où s’est installée une classe moyenne enrichie par la Haute croissance, sont aujourd’hui soumises à des processus cumulés de déclin qui détériorent l’accès quotidien aux ressources urbaines. Ces mutations soulèvent des questions pionnières sur les enjeux du vieillissement des espaces périurbains, que cette thèse analyse au prisme de l’évolution des mobilités dans l’aire métropolitaine d’Ōsaka. Sont ainsi mesurés les effets de l’hybridation néolibérale de l’État développeur japonais sur les recompositions d’une métropole touchée par la diminution en cours de la population nationale. L’approche théorique de cette thèse articule les débats internationaux sur les villes en décroissance à des sources japonaises interrogeant les liens entre déclin urbain, vieillissement et mobilités grâce à l’usage de concepts occidentaux. Cette grille de lecture appuie une cartographie pluri-scalaire des interactions entre déclin urbain et mobilités dans l’aire métropolitaine d’Ōsaka. Les résultats montrent comment le déclin des banlieues, attribué au vieillissement démographique, est aussi le pendant d’une recentralisation des trajectoires résidentielles, de la production immobilière et des activités des opérateurs ferroviaires. Ces processus traduisent un renversement des paradigmes d’aménagement visant à maintenir la compétitivité de Tōkyō, que la promotion de la ville compacte sert à légitimer, et ils accentuent le déclin des banlieues peu attractives, où la motorisation progresse. A l’épreuve de la spécialisation socio-résidentielle et des pratiques individuelles observées grâce aux enquêtes de terrain qui complètent ce travail, cette thèse discute les apports et limites des stratégies d’ancrage choisies par les acteurs locaux pour résister à la force des centralités métropolitaines. Il s’ensuit une dualisation des relations à la ville qui reconfigure à l’intérieur des agglomérations un découpage de l’espace entre Japon de l’endroit et de l’envers. Il en surgit un récit plus complexe que celui d’un rejet de la vie périurbaine au Japon
In Japan, the suburbia used to represent a space where an affluent middle class could realise its home-ownership aspirations. But these suburbs are now vulnerable to cumulative processes of decline which are deteriorating daily access to urban resources. Such changes raise precursory questions about the necessity to adapt growth-based paradigms to the challenges of suburban aging. Our thesis analyses them through the lens of evolving mobilities in the Ōsaka metropolitan area. It opens the way for an integrated approach to the impacts of the neoliberal hybridization of the Japanese Developmental State on the country’s second-city region, whose dynamics are destabilized by the Tōkyō uni-polar concentration and shrinking demographics. First, our theoretical framework articulates international debates on the globalization of the shrinking city phenomenon, to Japanese research who questions the links between urban de-growth, ageing and mobilities by drawing on Western concepts. Then, a multilevel mapping of the relations between de-growth and mobilities serves to test our hypotheses. Our results show that depopulation trends in suburban areas are reinforced by inward mobilities, a recentralization of real-estate development and a rescaling of railway networks. It makes sense within a context where a reversal of planning paradigms is meant to restore Tōkyō’s competitiveness and legitimized by compact city discourses. These processes reshape the traditional division of Japan’s territory between omote (front, globally connected) and ura (back, hinterland). Our work finally relies on the findings of field studies conducted inside two surburbs of Ōsaka. The socio-residential specialization and individual practices observed there lead us to discuss the benefits and limits of the hometown-making strategies designed to attract new residents. These results flesh out a picture of an everyday relation to the suburban way of life that is more complex than the belief in its rejection by the Japanese, young and old
高度経済成長で豊かになった中流階級が転入した日本の大都市圏の郊外は昨今様々な衰退問題を抱え、 そのせいで住民の都市施設へのアクセスが徐々に困難になった。公共政策は大都市圏の高齢化問題 を如何に解決できるかという新たな質問が浮上した。本論文は大阪大都市圏における人間移動の変容 を通じてその質問に答えることを目的にする。上記の変化を中心に、少子化と1990年に崩壊したバブ ルの影響を東京より強く受けた大阪大都市圏の再構成に対する日本政治経済危機の作用を分析する。本論文は都市衰退、高齢化と移動の関係を問う日本語で書いてある資料と縮退都市に関する国際的な 討論を結ぶ理論的な観点に基づいている。このアプローチを、大阪大都市圏における縮退都市と移動 の相互関係を明確にする多様な地図の利用によって裏付けられている。本論文で得られた結果によると、郊外の衰退は高齢化のみならず、日本人の住居移動、建設会社や鉄 道会社の活動の集中化による現象でもあることが分かる。新自由主義化している土建国家を背景に（鈴木、2014年）、上記の変化は東京の競争力を維持しようとする都市計画のパラダイムの逆転を示してる。都市圏内の空間の区分が再編されることにより、表のメトロポリタン日本と裏の衰退する日本 が現れる。現在、この現象は、高度経済成長より自動車化している魅力の少ない郊外の密度減少を強 調している。大都市圏の郊外に位置する二つの都市で行った補足的なフィールド調査は、新たな交通 手段の活発的な発展にも関わらず、住民の最近の自動車化の要因を明らかにしている。本論文は、住 民の生活水準に影響されている住宅用地や個人的な行動から見て、大都市圏の求心力に対抗しようと する現地のアクターによって実行されている家族や地区を中心にした都市計画の効果と限界を明確に する。本論文は、日本人が郊外生活から脱出したがっているという通説より、もっと複雑な語りを進 めている。

The rapid ageing of Japan’s population is occurring in the midst of accelerating social change, causing a rethinking about what it means to grow old. Some older Japanese are pioneering new models for ageing through their involvement in groups known as time banks. These are non-profit organisations which trade time, a universal possession, rather than conventional currency for services. Time given in volunteering is banked for future redemption as assistance for the giver, with points paid per hour. This first study of the impact of time banks on the lives of older Japanese members aims to chart how such groups can help both their senior members and society as a whole.¶ ...

碩士
中國文化大學
日本語文學系
101
摘要 　今、少子高齢化の現象は世界中の諸国における一つ大きな課題となっている。この社会問題は特にアジア圏の日本において最も顕著である。そのため、日本の政策等への注目が高まっており、東アジア、アメリカ及びヨーロッパの諸国は日本の社会保障制度に関心を寄せている。 　本論では、福祉用具という角度から日本の高齢化現況、将来の成り行き、発展、及び社会背景との関係について探求を試みる。また、日本の介護保険と年金について研究し、且つ分析することによって高齢者の生活状況、貧富の差、格差問題等をさらに究明する。 　今、台湾、中国、ドイツ等の国家は日本の縮図である。それを言い換えれば、少子高齢化が深刻な国家においては、将来の人口構造が日本のように変化していく可能性がある。人口構造が変わり、そこから更に多くの社会問題が生じてくる。そのため、今少子高齢化という社会問題にどう対応すべきかは今後の非常に重要な課題となっている。 キーワード：福祉用具、高齢化、介護保険、年金、格差問題

Most developed nations are experiencing a transition towards higher median ages and slower population growth. Many developing nations are likely to experience similar transitions in the coming decades. The implications of such demographic changes for economic growth and standards of living, public finance, and international capital flows have been the subject of much discussion and research. This study seeks to make a contribution to the literature on the modelling of macroeconomic effects of demographic transition. Specifically, it seeks to adapt, extend and enhance two well-known modelling frameworks: the empirical MSG3 model (McKibbin and Wilcoxen, 1999) and the theoretical Blanchard (1985) model. The MSG3 model is an important tool in the multi-country, general equilibrium modelling literature and is well suited to the analysis of saving and investment, capital accumulation, economic growth, standards of living, international capital flows, and transition dynamics in a general equilibrium context. In this study, we report some of the efforts that have been made in using formal mathematical analysis, as well as empirical implementation and calibration, to adapt the MSG3 framework such that it becomes suitable for the analysis of population ageing. We also report some key findings from simulations based on the adapted MSG3 model. Some of these findings are consistent with those reported in previous studies. For example, other things being equal, a fall in the birth rate is likely to result in slower growth in labour supply and real output, as well as in per capita real GDP and consumption. Other findings help shed new light on old questions, especially those involving transitional dynamics. For example, the contrast between simulations with and without the presence of children in the model helps to clarify the effects of demographic change on investment and saving: if the transition to slower population growth is anticipated well in advance, the short-term saving response (a rise in saving) may outweigh the staggered investment response (a rise in investment) so that the country tends to export capital (experience current account surpluses) for a number of years. This study also makes contributions towards enhancing the Blanchard (1985) model, a seminal framework that has served as the conceptual basis of numerous analyses of policy changes and demographic shocks. The Blanchard model makes a simplifying assumption, namely that all individuals face a common mortality rate. To relax this assumption, we apply an overlapping generations approach to the Blanchard model. In the new resultant model, an individual's mortality rate rises with the person's age, and this age-mortality relationship is allowed to change over time. A version of this theoretical model is numerically implemented and simulated. The new discrete-time, cohort-based theoretical model is readily amenable to direct calibration with the use of historical data and authoritative projections. By incorporating variable (increasing) mortality rates, it is better equipped to capture key demographic features such as the population age structure, in comparison with a corresponding model based on the constant-mortality assumption. Results obtained from simulations of the empirical model indicate that such differences in demographic modelling translate into material differences in projections for important macroeconomic variables, including per capita output.

碩士
國立中正大學
戰略暨國際事務研究所
102
ABSTRACT In 1993, Taiwan formally became an “aging society,” which, according to the United Nations, refers to a society where those aged over 65 years compose more than 7% of the population. It is estimated that by 2025, one out of every five Taiwanese people will be 65 or over. This demographic change is a major concern for both the government, as President Chen Shui-bian in 2006 took population as one of the nine national security issues, while President Ma Ying-jeou also elevated the population problem to the level of national security. An ageing population will bring huge impacts on a variety of areas such as politics, economy, technology, public spending, medical care, military service, and education, and it is important to take it as not only a welfare issue but a political or even a security one. This thesis explores the issue of ageing from the perspective of human security. It first reviews some international practices in ageing policies and finds that important international organizations such as the United Nations, the European Union and the World Health Organization no longer frames ageing solely in terms of welfare, but have moved towards an emphasis on “rights,” e.g. the right to social security, the right to education, the right to work, and the right to freedom from discrimination. The thesis then conducts a comparative study of Japan and Taiwan on the basis of their similar social, political and cultural contexts. It is suggested that while the Japanese governments largely tackle the ageing issue as a social welfare one, with the introduction of a long-term care insurance system being the most prominent project, some policy practices focusing on the rights of older people nevertheless are developing. In contrast, Taiwan only has a nursing care policy for the older people, and the long-term care insurance bill remains to be ratified by the Legislative Yuan. In terms of the latest international practices on the issue of ageing, Taiwan has a lot to catch up with. Keywords: Ageing Society, Human Security, Welfare for the elderly, Nursing care for the elderly

Thesis (M.Phil.) -- Australian Catholic University, 2002.
A thesis submitted in total fulfillment of the requirements of Master of Philosophy. Bibliography: p. 102-140. Also available in an electronic format via the internet.

This thesis examines the impact an ageing Australian population will have upon real residential property and equity prices from 2016 to 2050. A study of the relationship between population age and key asset prices is germane, given Australia is experiencing a long term ageing cycle. The median age of the Australian population has been rising since 1970 and is forecast to keep increasing at a similar trajectory until at least 2050. Relatively low birth rates and the ageing of the post-WWII baby boom are driving this phenomenon. The Life Cycle Hypothesis (LCH) has traditionally been employed as the theoretical framework to understand the relationship between population age and asset prices. A combination of social changes, tax incentives and extended life expectancy, however, makes it difficult to apply the LCH to the Australian experience. As a result, this paper hypothesises a positive causal relationship exists between population ageing and asset prices, in particular housing. The thesis question is answered by analysing historical data through the construction of time series regression models for each asset class. The results from the historical study are applied to four population projections between 2016 and 2050 determined by changes in birth rates, net immigration and life expectancy. Future population projections are sourced from the Australian Bureau of Statistics. The results from the historical analysis support the hypothesis that an ageing population has been a positive for real house prices. As Australian’s have aged, they have progressively invested in housing, supporting strong real price growth. The extent of the positive impact however, is debatable given that non-demographic factors were also found to be highly influential. When the results from the historical housing analysis were applied to the projected population scenarios it showed real housing prices should continue to benefit from the ageing process. The historical equity regression model concluded the relationship between real equity returns and changes in population age have been positive but extremely weak. The analysis revealed that factors other than age have been the key drivers of real equity prices. As a result, it was found that the ageing process from 2016 to 2050 would have a minor positive impact on real equity prices. The thesis also undertakes an historical case study of the ageing process in Japan. Japan has one of the oldest populations in the developed world and is expected to age rapidly in coming decades. The Japanese case study disclosed a strong cohort effect produced by the post-WWII baby boom. Japan’s baby boom was short and intense, resulting in a major shock to residential property and equity prices. The Japanese experience can largely be explained by the LCH, further emphasising the special circumstances that exist in Australia.

This is a study of Japanese retirees who have elected to retire in Malaysia. I arrived in Kuala Lumpur in 2014 to study sensory responses of Japanese retirees to the Malaysian landscape, but discovered instead that the gender differences in the experiences of their overseas move into retirement were dominating everyday discussions among the retirees. Retired baby boomers had lived through Japan’s high growth period in which family and firm were strictly demarcated into a normative division of labour between women and men. Men’s retirement seemed to have unsettled many taken-for-granted categories including gender and intergenerational norms. I observed that their movement to Malaysia led retirees to reimagine and restructure relations between themselves and their spouses, with their children, and the wider Japanese state. The thesis focuses on three aspects of their lives: (1) their partial refashioning of retirement as affective labour; (2) their reconstitution of relationships with wives, children and other retirees; and (3) the sense of anxiety they felt around these transitions, and how that shaped the new relationships. I engage with a growing body of literature in feminist economic anthropology that looks at how economic transformations shape people’s intimate lives and how their lives in turn shape wider economic practices. The anxiety around belonging felt by those who were outside the productivist scheme was a kind of experience profoundly entwined with a contemporary global economy. The distinctiveness of the Malaysian field site provided a unique place from which my thesis addresses larger debates over the politics of intimacy and productivity. I move outward from their sense of anxieties to theorise how intimate relations are both shaped by, and shaping, the operations of society’s multiple regulatory forms in global capitalism today.

碩士
國立臺灣大學
國際企業學研究所
106
Focusing on age issue, the empirical results have found that the early growth will reduce the risk aversion and embrace the risk, aggressively. Once the age reaches 65, the personal risk aversion will increase with this age issue, accordingly. It is reasonable that in the working-age, the expected income and capital investment will give time to tolerate personal risk losses, accumulate profits, and will eventually achieve the level of wealth. However, in the retirement-age of 65, along with zero income, stable assets dominate one’s living standard, and this mental safeguard will change the allocation of personal assets from risk capital to fixed Income to reach the ultimate goal of elderly life. This essay, based on the empirical evidence of risk aversion for age 65, emphasizes the impact of ageing population ratio degree of three stages from elementary 7～14%, intermediate 14～21%, and to superior 21% above, trying to figure out that how ageing population rate change along with risk tendency between working-age and retirement-age affects equity risk premium? It investigates China, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand, affected by the aging issues in the Asia Pacific region as examples, combines changes of ageing ratio, dependency ratio, GDP deflator, and consumption expenditure as predictor variables, and analyzes these markets in time series from 1960 to 2016 for how ageing population rate change affects equity risk premium? By the empirical results in-depth analysis, changes of ageing ratio and dependency ratio have negative coefficient with risk premium. This ageing population structure forces retirement group to take risk and burden volatility from stock markets, which shows a different perspective in our previous studies. Only by facing the music of ageing issues can we seize the opportunity to build a bold strategy for a place’s promising future.

China’s state-led finance to overseas projects becomes increasingly important, represents a growing financial trend among emerging market economies, and leads to the puzzle: to what extent are state-owned (policy) bank driven by state or by its own interest. The project compares China’s practice of overseas energy finance with Japan – a well-studied case of state-supported development – to highlight the characteristics of Chinese public financiers and integrate their practice into development theories. The project speaks to three major development theories: the market model, in which banks pursue profit; the state model, in which banks are commanded by state; and the interest group model, in which conflicting goals clash in the repeating game between stakeholders. The project argues that banks balance their self-interest and state assignments depending on the regulator-bank and bank-client bargains. In the project, the first research article compiles publicly available data on policy bank loan and calculates the influence of various determinants on loans granted by policy banks. The findings are that Chinese and Japanese banks are driven by both profit and non-market goals and tend to invest in recipients with high risks. Going beyond large-N statistical modeling, the second article uses archives and interviews to investigate to what extent do investment in risky projects are driven by state goals. The article develops an interest-group bargaining model, in which the analysis focuses on four sets of actors in the process of project formation, crisis emergence, and resolution/or lack of resolution. While projects with innate high risk are often considered as economic diplomacy, evidences suggest the projects are mostly driven by recipient governments and for-profit banks. The third, and final, research article relies on elite interviews and archival analysis to investigate the domestic politics of policy bank regulation and the formation of loan policies. Between China and Japan, the article formulates two different institutional structures that govern the effectiveness of policy bank regulation. In Japan, the structure is vertical, with paired ministry-bank regulations. In China, the institutional structure is more like umbrella-shaped joint regulation. This leads to more interactions between the leading regulator and banks and occasionally more efficient policy implementation.

Thanks to environmental changes, globalization, long distance trade and plant transport, invasive organisms have become a major threat for world biodiversity and ecosystem services. Over the last 20 years, common European ash trees (Fraxinus excelsior L., Fraxinus angustifolia Vahl. etc.) have been subjected to heavy dieback and mortality because of the introduction and spread of the ascomycetous fungal pathogen Hymenoscyphus pseudoalbidus Queloz (syn. Chalara fraxinea Kowalski). Once the disease is established, its management is hardly possible. Therefore, one of the main objectives of European researchers is to find effective and respectful control methods, such as biological control. The discovery of viruses which reduce the virulence of the chestnut blight fungus Cryphonecria parasitica (Murr.) Barr., has intensively stimulated the research of fungal viruses as potential biological control agents (BCA). The occurrence of putative dsRNA particles in the decaying fungus H. pseudoalbidus was investigated as an important indicator of the mycoviruses' presence. In total, 106 samples of this pathogen were obtained from eight different European countries. According to the results, dsRNA segments were confirmed in 32.1 % of examined samples (two similarly sized at 2--2.5 kb and a third one of approximately 5 kb). Statistical results have revealed no significant relation between the presence of dsRNA and growth rate, colour or any other characteristic of the mycelium.