On November 4th, 2021, Professor OHWA Mie of the School of Human Welfare Studies at Kwansei Gakuin University (KGU), Japan, delivered an online key-note speech on “The Life of the Elderly in a Super-Aging Society” at the invitation of Northeast Asian Research Center of Jilin University and Northeast Asian Studies College of Jilin University. Associate Professor Wang Yanjun, Vice Dean of the Northeast Asian Studies College of Jilin University, presided over the symposium and served as an interpreter. The research team on population ageing and teachers and students of related majors on and off campus participated in the activity in person or in real time online.
Professor OHWA Mie once served as Head of the Undergraduate School of Human Welfare Studies of KGU and Head of the Graduate School of Human Welfare Studies of KGU. Her research interests include the welfare of the elderly and long-term care insurance. In her lecture, Professor OHWA Mie, based on detailed dates, elaborated on the status quo and growing trend of population ageing in Japan. She pointed out that population ageing in Japan is facing the practical problems of rapid ageing and rapid increase in the elderly. Thus, with “100-Year Life” becoming more and more a reality, it is urgent to meet the health needs, nursing needs and social participation needs of the elderly. Meanwhile, the elderly in Japan are unique in that a high proportion of them are living alone with less social interaction and higher need to work after retirement. The Japanese government is actively responding to the problems of the elderly by implementing a long-term care insurance system and establishing a regionally integrated care system, but it still faces pressing issues such as systems to be improved and the shortage of human resources.
In the Q&A section, Professor OHWA Mie answered questions about gender differences in employment and income for the elderly and neighborhood relations in Japan. Finally, Associate Professor Wang Yanjun expressed gratitude to Professor OHWA Mie for her wonderful lecture and academic sharing.
This academic report is a session of the High-end Symposium on Northeast Asia International and Regional Studies. The wonderful lecture and in-depth exchanges with students and teachers have impressed the students deeply, which have further enhanced their understanding of population ageing in Japan, broadened their academic horizons, and had positive significance for deepening academic cooperation with Japanese scholars in the fields of demography and gerontology.
