The former officer, Masato Takeuchi, and another suspect arrested over the case, 55-year-old company employee Hiromi Ishichi, are apparently denying the allegations. Takeuchi is a board member of a Kyoto-based group, mainly comprising former police officers, that provides daily assistance to elderly people with dementia. The police believe the two suspects withdrew several million yen in cash using the victim’s card.
Around 6:30 a.m. on Dec. 12, 2018, Minoru Eguchi and his wife Tomiko were busy preparing breakfast for residents of the nursing facility they were running in the city of Toyama in central Japan when four men suddenly entered. They placed Minoru in a wrestling hold and began dragging him outside. He screamed for his wife to call police. The men forced Minoru, who was in his late 70s, into a private ambulance and drove off. To his horror, Minoru was being forcibly institutionalized, a procedure applied to tens of thousands of Japanese in a complex system that critics say is rife with abuse and lacking independent oversight.
As of Tuesday 21st October, Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s new Cabinet appointed Kenichiro Ueno as health, labor and welfare minister and Hitoshi Kikawada as minister for children and population issues, but did not include a minister specifically in charge of elderly or disabled affairs, leaving those areas under the health ministry’s broader welfare framework.
New Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi faces a difficult challenge in maintaining the quality of the country’s medical and nursing care services while lowering related expenses, amid an aging population. Nippon Ishin no Kai (Japan Innovation Party), the new coalition partner to Takaichi’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party, has called for lowering social security premiums for working people. But this requires reforms that are expected to increase the burden on society, including the elderly, as a whole. Since medical and nursing care services are offered at fixed prices set by the state, many service providers are struggling to cope with rapid inflation and are operating at a loss.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s new Cabinet, launched Tuesday, appointed Kenichiro Ueno as health, labor and welfare minister and Hitoshi Kikawada as minister for children and population issues, but did not include a minister specifically in charge of elderly or disabled affairs, leaving those areas under the health ministry’s broader welfare framework.
Two female residents of an elderly care facility in Tsurugashima in Saitama Prefecture, north of Tokyo, were confirmed dead Wednesday morning, hours after they were found bleeding and unconscious there. At around 4:55 a.m., an emergency call from the facility reported the two women lying injured. They were taken to a hospital, where they were pronounced dead. Investigating the case as a possible murder, the Saitama prefectural police department apprehended a former facility employee in his 20s on Wednesday morning.
A Japanese government survey showed Friday that 75.8 pct of the respondents are unaware of the enactment of the country’s basic law on dementia. The result of the public opinion survey by the Cabinet Office revealed that public awareness in Japan remains low even more than a year and a half after the law’s enforcement in January 2024. Of the respondents, 16.4 pct said they are aware of the law’s enactment but do not know its content, while 4.5 pct and 1.0 pct said they know its content “to some extent” and “in detail,” respectively.
A model project is set to launch next fiscal year that will provide subsidies to keep homes from sitting vacant, it has been learned. This will be run by the Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Ministry. The project will target residential areas in major cities and neighboring areas and transform properties — including those about to be vacated by elderly people — into residences and community facilities suitable for families with children. The number of neglected vacant homes is increasing year by year, according to the Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry. In 2023, a record high 3.85 million units fell into this category.
An elderly woman was stabbed at an apartment in Machida, Tokyo, on Tuesday evening and died shortly after being transported to hospital. The victim, Chizuko Akie, a 76-year-old resident of the apartment, was stabbed several times in the stomach and other parts of her body, according to the police. The incident occurred around 7:10 p.m. Tuesday.
Japan’s Environment Ministry plans to step up efforts to prevent elderly people from suffering heatstroke indoors, including at home. It has requested 1 billion yen for related measures under the government’s fiscal 2026 budget.
Barrier Free Japan