MyVision

No.20 2016.4

Using the Abilities
of Japanʼs Senior
Generations

The abilities of senior citizens tend to undergo a process of rejuvenation with thepassing of the years. Many of Japan’s seniors possess the necessary faculties andsufficient physical capability to conduct activities in the broader social sphere. As
Japan progresses further towards becoming a fully-fledged “super-aged society,”
the realization of “ageless work,” enabling seniors to transcend barriers of age,
will play a role in maintaining the vigor of Japanese society as a whole. What are
the policy issues that face us in enabling Japan’s seniors to display their abilities
as they wish, and how can we create working environments that encourage this?

CONTENTS
Expert Opinions

How can We Help Japanʼs Seniors to Use
their Abilities in Society?
It will be essential to change social
awareness regarding employment
for seniors
Hisao Osada

Professor, Graduate School of Gerontology,
J. F. Oberlin University

Encourage volunteer activities thatallow seniors to enjoy themselves
Yoshinori Fujiwara

Team Leader, Research Team for Social
Participation and Community Health,Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Gerontology

Create an occupational database
If the working environment is right,
similar to “O*NET” in the US
seniors will use their abilities
Yukiko Ito

Etsuko T. Harada

Professor, Division of Psychology, University of Tsukuba

We must make use of the wisdomof our senior citizens

Associate Professor, Department of Economics,
Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences,
Tokyo Gakugei University

Yasuyuki Gondo

Associate Professor, Graduate School of Human
Sciences, Osaka University

About this Issue

Noriyuki Yanagawa

Expert Opinions

How can We Help Japanʼs Seniors to Use
their Abilities in Society?
Japan, fast becoming a “super-aged” society, needs its senior generations to make the fullest use of theirabilities in supporting society. But specifically what type of abilities should the nation encourage its
seniors to put to work? And what issues face us in making it possible for our seniors to better apply thoseabilities? In this issue of, we seek opinions from experts in gerontology, cognitive psychology,
medicine, and economics, who all possess a detailed understanding of the issues of Japanʼs senior
population.

Interviewer: Yuya Nishiyama, NIRA Senior Researcher
Editor: Kazuyoshi Harada
Period of interviews: December 2015 - January 2016

It will be essential to change social awarenessregarding employment for seniors
Hisao Osada
Professor, Graduate School of Gerontology,
J. F. Oberlin University
Approximately 80% of Japan’s population aged 65 and over (seniors) are capable of joining the labor force. Japan’s seniors possessa high level of motivation to work, even by international standards.
Naturally, it is the right of the individual to choose whether or notthey wish to work, but it would be desirable for our society to possess mechanisms enabling elderly individuals who do desire to work
to find an appropriate means of involvement and to be able to continue working. In a “super-aged” society, employment for the elderly will be socially necessary, but at present, the elderly are not being
adequately presented with opportunities for involvement.
One reason for this is discrimination and prejudice towards theelderly, i.e. “ageism.” The tendency to underestimate the abilities ofthe elderly is strongly rooted in society and among companies, andunless we first expunge this tendency, it will be difficult to accept
elderly citizens into employment. At the same time, it would be a
mistake to overestimate the elderly, and believe them to be capableof any task. Aging is a fact that cannot be denied. Performing tasks
in dark areas represents a greater risk for the elderly, and their efficiency does decline. The quality of their work might not decline
significantly, but their output will be lower than that of younger people.
What is essential is a correct understanding of the nature of theaging of the body and the mind. We will need to consider what typeof support to offer in order to enable the elderly to work safely without over-extending themselves. Changes in awareness throughout
our entire society will be necessary to promoting work among theelderly based on an accurate view of the situation, without going too
far or not far enough.
To make this possible, strongly-rooted cooperation between private enterprise, government, academia and civil society will be nec-

essary. In such cooperation, private enterprise would provide employment, the government would play a supporting role, and theacademic side would conduct basic research and collect and publish
information. Civil society would be represented by the seniors
themselves. By inviting the participation of the concerned parties,
the companies and the seniors, when conducting research on theways in which seniors can work within companies, academia would
be able to make new discoveries. It would be desirable for Japanesesociety to engage in a process in which we go beyond establishedboundaries in order to invigorate mutual interaction. ■Professor Osada is involved in research on the psychological changes associated with aging and the concept of lifelong development, taking the perspective that aging is to be viewed as positively as possible. He is particularly interested in the psychology of dementia and its social characteristics.

If the working environment is right,
seniors will use their abilities
Etsuko T. Harada
Professor, Division of Psychology, University of Tsukuba
The people who are most keenly aware of the decline in abilities
in the elderly, e.g., the diminished vision, the difficulty in remembering, are the elderly themselves. Elderly people therefore devise avariety of schemes to help them avoid trouble in their daily activities
and to maintain their abilities at an acceptable level. I am sure thatin agriculture and other areas in which we can easily point to examples of elderly people continuing to perform well in work situations,each elderly workers has tailored their approach to work to suit theirabilities.
Expecting elderly workers to work by the book is not the best approach. If an attitude that seeks uniform perfectionism is discardedin place of a tolerant attitude that accepts the individual circumstances of each worker, elderly workers will organize their working
situation themselves to enable them to use the abilities and the faculties that they possess in the best fashion. As this indicates, theMy Vision No.20

working environment is the deciding factor.
The development of environments in which the elderly are able tocooperate with younger people would also be effective. Seniors
have difficulty in using new devices, but if they were able to do sowhile working together with young people, they would soon findtheir own way of using these devices. This would also have benefits
for the young people. Working in collaboration with elderly people
would boost their self-esteem, and increase their assertiveness. The
real issue will be how to incorporate new valuations into workplaceand company systems that enable the best use to be made of all thepossible permutations.
When a workplace becomes one in which elderly people find it
easy to work, then in all likelihood it will have become a workplacein which it is easy for everyone to work, regardless of age or gender.
This is exactly what we do in the Center for Usability and Aging
Research*: By pursuing designs that make products and services
easier for the elderly to use, we seek to realize greater user-friendliness for everyone.
*A research project led by Professor Harada, in which she conducts research concerning the user-friendliness of products and services with the involvement of elderly
residents of the local area. ■Professor Harada seeks to increase user-friendliness for all users, especiallythe elderly, based on a universal design perspective. In her ongoing research project, she works together with local elderly volunteers in order tofurther her research.

We must make use of the wisdom of oursenior citizens
Yasuyuki Gondo
Associate Professor, Graduate School of Human Sciences,
Osaka University“Wisdom” is the great advantage possessed by seniors. Wisdom
is the ability, at crucial points, to judge one’s own circumstances andthe surrounding circumstances, and to make decisions on that basis.
Wisdom is a quality that is considered to develop with age. People
who possess wisdom are normally modest and self-effacing, but are
instantly ready with excellent advice when it is necessary. It is wisdom that enables elderly workers to act as skillful mediators wheninterpersonal issues arise in the workplace, and to offer the mostappropriate advice to younger workers. To exaggerate somewhat, if
an elderly worker was able to apply their wisdom once in a year in asituation in which that wisdom was genuinely needed, it would not
matter if they simply slept for the rest of the year.
The vast majority of senior citizens are healthy and would be able
to work normally until the age of 75. However, the reality is that jobs
are unavailable for these healthy elderly people, in particular in urban areas. This is presumably because society pursues efficiency
exclusively, and has lost a sense of flexibility. We must make thetransition towards a society which makes use of the wisdom of theelderly.
Research has been conducted on the relationship between work
experience and cognitive function in the elderly. According to thisresearch, many elderly people who maintain cognitive functions
performed complex tasks in their jobs when they were young. Subjects who were around 70 at the time of the research had done jobs
requiring calculation and data processing, while those who wereaged around 90 at the time had done jobs involving coordination ofother people. The nature of the abilities demanded by jobs changes

with the times. Considering that in the future, computers will replace humans for work like data processing, perhaps we will makethe transition back to a society in which the wisdom of the elderly
can be used in coordinating human relationships in the workplace.
At the same time, we must also give consideration to what type of
wisdom to develop in the younger generations. ■Associate Professor Gondo conducts research on factors affecting longevity and the sense of wellbeing among the elderly. For more than 15 years hehas been energetic in conducting interviews with elderly people, now having interviewed over 1,500 subjects in total.

Encourage volunteer activities that allow
seniors to enjoy themselves
Yoshinori Fujiwara
Team Leader, Research Team for Social Participation andCommunity Health, Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Gerontology
Against the background of Japan’s low birthrate and aging population, senior citizens can play the role of enabling the nation tomaintain a fixed level of labor power. Perhaps 20% of Japan’s seniors, who might be called “super seniors,” remain independent andvigorous for their entire lives. Healthy and active seniors also continue to be involved in work.
Even if seniors are finding it difficult to continue working, theyshould not immediately shut themselves away in their homes, butrather continue to participate in social activities, gradually reducing
their workload while making the transition from work into involvement in volunteer activities or hobbies. This is the “successful aging” advocated by my team. Seniors have their own unique role toplay in regional activities and activities that contribute to society,and such activities are of benefit to the seniors themselves, the connection with the broader community offering them a sense of purpose and a boost to their health. In addition to being a “super-aging
society,” Japan faces a low birthrate and a declining population. We
can certainly assume that whether remunerated or not, volunteer
activities will form part of the lives of Japan’s senior citizens in the
future.
What will be important in this is that the elderly citizens involved
can enjoy themselves while participating in these volunteer activities. Activities that they find difficult or not to their liking will only
have the effect of increasing stress. The regularity of the activities isalso important. A survey conducted by the Institute of Gerontology
indicates that individuals who participate in volunteer activities atleast once a month experience only one-quarter the age-related decline in function of those who participate occasionally or not at all.
And the effect is greater the more enjoyable the activity is.
If volunteer activities burgeon among the elderly, their approach
will become an issue. Because seniors are not physically strong, it
would be best to enable them to participate in groups, or to create
systems that enable them to alternate their involvement with others,
for example by forming teams. In addition, because some participants in volunteer activities would tend to deviate from standardpractice based on their own individual inclinations, it would also beessential to establish mechanisms and formulate guidelines to ensure that guidelines were followed. ■Dr. Fujiwara is involved in research on the development of systems to support the elderly in contributing to society and on the promotion and effects of inter-generational exchange. He stresses the importance of local
prevention and local support in ensuring healthy and active longevity.

Create an occupational database similar to“O*NET” in the US
Yukiko Ito
Associate Professor, Department of Economics, Faculty of Humanities
and Social Sciences, Tokyo Gakugei University
Employment opportunities among Japan’s seniors are limited topersonal connections and jobs that become available in their own
neighborhoods. Job-seeking websites are geared towards the young;there are few positions calling for older workers, and no attempt ismade to match seniors with companies offering work. Rendering
the skills that seniors possess “visible” will be essential in connecting elderly workers with potential employers. An initiative in the US
can provide us with a guide in this.
The United States Department of Labor maintains an occupational database called “O*NET,” which has dramatically improved thematching of individual workers and companies. Municipal administrations and employment agencies use this database to standardize
job descriptions. This service makes available a wide range of information on the Web, including the skills required for specific jobs,
the needs of companies, and the availability of occupational training. The database also allows users to seek out different occupations
requiring similar skills. This works as a useful reference for people
who are seeking new jobs for which their existing expertise will fit
them. For example, there are similarities between auditing work andjobs involving the scanning of genetic information. Both require theability to identify discrepancies in sets of figures, and to draw infer-ences from these discrepancies. There is also a close relationshipbetween the abilities required by travel agents and social workers, inthat each must possess the ability to listen closely to what clients areseeking. The creation of a database like O*NET in Japan could significantly expand the job-matching potential for all ages, and seniorcitizens would especially benefit because their skills have been lessvisible than those of younger people.
The results of a NIRA survey have indicated the surprising factthat more than 40% of workers in clerical and sales positions in Japan are not sufficiently aware of their own skills, and believe that
their jobs do not require any specialized knowledge *. This contrasts
with the results of a survey conducted by O*NET in the US, whichindicated that most workers in these categories believe that they
possess specific expertise. This lack of self-assessment among
younger generations in Japan will have a negative effect in their senior years. They will need to learn how to market themselves in order to ensure their future employability.
*The results of this questionnaire survey will be published in the near future. ■Associate Professor Ito specializes in international economics and healtheconomics. Her research focuses on the effect of location choices on productivity, with a particular focus on multinational corporations and medical
services.

This is a translation of a paper originally published in Japanese.
NIRA bears full responsibility for the translation presented here.
Translated by Michael Faul.

About this Issue

Using the Abilities of Japanʼs Senior Generations

Japan’s birthrate is low, and its population is aging and declining. As this scenario progresses, we need to create a society
in which all generations are able to play an even more active role
than has previously been the case. It will be essential in this that
we do not simply regard the members of the senior generations
in particular as individuals needing to be supported, but rather
make it possible for them to be more active in ways that suit theiractual situations. In order to do so, we will need to attain an
accurate grasp of the actual situation of the elderly, and consider
appropriate working styles and modes of activity on the basis of
this understanding.
Based on this perspective, in this issue of My Vision, we discuss the abilities possessed by seniors and the potential for using
those abilities with experts involved in a variety of specialized
fields closely related to issues of Japan’s senior population.
While we often think that we intuitively understand the situation of seniors, in actual fact very little discussion of the issues
is conducted on a scientific basis. Professor Hisao Osada points
out in this issue that approximately 80% of seniors aged 65 andabove could potentially become part of the labor force. Associate Professor Yasuyuki Gondo believes that the great majority
of seniors are in good health, and able to work normally until theage of 75. However, seniors are not being sufficiently provided
with the opportunity to work.
While it would be an exaggeration to believe that seniors areable to take on any type of work, Professor Etsuko Harada
points to the necessity of organizing working environments thatmake it easier for the elderly to work, stressing that this ultimately makes workplaces easier for everyone to work in.
And if we do not merely consider work in the narrow sense,
as Dr. Yoshinori Fujiwara suggests, seniors have their own roles
to play in regional activities and activities for the benefit of society, and it will be necessary to work to create environments tomake their participation possible.
Ultimately, it will be essential to implement initiatives suchas the establishment of occupational databases, as suggested by
Associate Professor Yukiko Ito, and to make further efforts toanalyze the issues raised above scientifically and to formulate
meaningful policies on this basis.
Noriyuki Yanagawa, NIRA Executive Vice President(Professor, Graduate School of Economics,
The University of Tokyo)

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