Category: Elderly

by Michael Gillan Peckitt February 23, 2025 Number of comments0
Disability Disasters Elderly Japan

Japan Eyeing IT to Help Those Needing Assistance in Disasters

Japan is increasingly adopting information technology to help those in need of assistance in times of disasters, such as the elderly and people with disabilities. Major electronics maker NEC Corp. and disaster management advisory firm Tokio Marine Resilience Co. conducted a test with the western Tokyo city of Tama late last month of a system to confirm the safety of those in need of support during disasters. Under the system, those who provide evacuation support receive requests on their smartphones for safety checks when local governments issue evacuation-related information.

by Michael Gillan Peckitt February 14, 2025 Number of comments0
Disability Elderly Japan Organ Donation Podcast

Japan’s Health Ministry Introducing System to Assist Institutions with ‘Brain-Death’ Organ Donations [Podcast Episode]

Japan’s Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry this year started rolling out an online system to enable about 70 institutions with minimal experience in the processes behind organ donations from brain-dead patients to connect with core medical institutions that have abundant experience. The initiative seeks to help the inexperienced institutions with declaring patients as brain dead and is part of an effort to increase the number of organ donations in the country.

by Michael Gillan Peckitt January 20, 2025 Number of comments0
Disability Disasters Earthquake Elderly Japan Typhoon

Japan sees 5,400 deaths from post-disaster fatigue, stress since 1995

More than 5,400 people died in Japan over the past 30 years due to severe stress and exhaustion caused by evacuation following earthquakes and other natural disasters, according to a recent tally by Kyodo News. At least 5,456 “disaster-related deaths” have been recognized since local governments began such designation following the Great Hanshin Earthquake in western Japan on Jan. 17, 1995, with the figure including deaths linked to the Noto Peninsula quake last year.

by Michael Gillan Peckitt January 8, 2025 Number of comments0
2024 Noto Peninsula Earthquake Care Disability Earthquake Elderly Japan

Ishikawa Prefecture Investigates Deaths of Elderly from “indirect causes” One Year After Noto Earthquake [Podcast Episode]

Concerns have been raised about the deaths of elderly people who died of “indirect causes” after they were evacuated, dying at care facilities. Jiji Press reported that as of Wednesday 25th December 2024 that “22 of 176 elderly evacuees from Ishikawa had died at elderly care facilities or elsewhere in Toyama, according to the Toyama Prefectural Government. In Aichi, 16 of 68 such evacuees died at care facilities or hospitals.

by Michael Gillan Peckitt January 5, 2025 1
2024 Noto Peninsula Earthquake Disability Disasters Earthquake Elderly Japan

Ishikawa Prefecture Investigates Deaths of Elderly from “indirect causes” One Year After Noto Earthquake

Concerns have been raised about the deaths of elderly people who died of “indirect causes” after they were evacuated, dying at care facilities. Jiji Press reported that as of Wednesday 25th December 2024 that “22 of 176 elderly evacuees from Ishikawa had died at elderly care facilities or elsewhere in Toyama, according to the Toyama Prefectural Government. In Aichi, 16 of 68 such evacuees died at care facilities or hospitals.”

by Michael Gillan Peckitt December 27, 2024 Number of comments0
Abuse Care Disability Elderly Japan

Elderly abuse at facilities in Japan up 30% to record high, over 1,000 cases, Japan’s Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare Reports

In fiscal year 2023, the number of cases in which elderly individuals were abused by staff at care facilities increased by 31.2% compared to the previous year, reaching 1,123 cases, according to a survey by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare released on the 27th. This marks the third consecutive year of record-high figures and the first time the number has exceeded 1,000 since the survey began in fiscal year 2007.

by Michael Gillan Peckitt December 11, 2024 Number of comments0
Dementia Elderly Japan Missing Podcast Yasuko Arakawa

Woman with Dementia, Yasuko Arakawa is Missing 「荒川泰子さんが行方不明です。」[Podcast Episode]

Over a year has passed since Yasuko Arakawa, who had been diagnosed with an early-onset type of dementia, disappeared from their home in the western Japan city of Yonago on August 8th 2023. Her husband Tsutomu is desperately seeking any information on her whereabouts.  

荒川泰子さんは2023年8月8日、西日本の米子市の自宅から姿を消して以来、早期発症型認知症と診断されていた彼女の行方は、1年以上経ってもわかっていません。夫の勉さんは、彼女の行方に関する情報を必死に求めています。

by Michael Gillan Peckitt December 10, 2024 Number of comments0
Disability Elderly Health Japan

Elderly at higher risk of winter ‘heat shock’ deaths when bathing; Japan expert shares tips

Wintry temperatures have arrived in the Japanese capital and surrounding Kanto region. It’s the season when taking a bath can feel good, but that also means a higher risk of accidents, so experts are advising vigilance against so-called “heat shock”: sudden changes in blood pressure that can make someone lose consciousness or suffer a stroke.

by Michael Gillan Peckitt November 25, 2024 Number of comments0
Crime Elderly Japan Travel

93-Yr-Old Inmate over Tokyo Car Crash Dies

The 93-year-old inmate over a car crash in which a mother and her young daughter were killed in Tokyo’s busy Ikebukuro district in April 2019 has died of old age, it was learned Monday. Kozo Iizuka, former head of the government’s now-defunct Agency of Industrial Science and Technology died on Oct. 26 while serving a five-year term for negligent driving causing death and injury in the accident, informed sources said.