News ReleaseOct 29th, 2014
Keio Research Institute at SFC

A pattern language for living well with Dementia
is created by Iba Laboratory of Keio University, Japan,in effort for a Dementia-friendly society
The Iba Laboratory of Keio University, Japan, just released a pattern language, Words for a Journey– The Art of Being with Dementia, which collects knowledge on how to live well when you or afamily member is diagnosed with dementia. Advice is given each for the person diagnosed withdementia, the patient's family members, and for the people in society in general on how to accept andto live well with the disease. The aim for this project is to spread and share the positive and practical
wisdom of the people who live with the disease, so those who are newly met with dementia can learn
and be encouraged from them. Also, the project hopes to start a society - wide dialogue aboutDementia. The laboratory will hold a press conference on Friday, October 31, and will also holdmultiple events throughout November to show, present, and issue the booklet. Please consider
attending any or all of the events.

Important Events
 "Building a Dementia-Friendly Society" - a dialogue session*Prof. Takashi Iba will be attending to speak
Date: Tuesday, November 4, 1:00PM - 4:00PM
Place: Fujitsu Design HAB-YU platform
Roppongi ARK Hills South Tower 31st floor, room 311, Roppongi 1-4-5, Minato-Ku,
Tokyo, Japan. 106-0032.
Please register at http://www.glocom.ac.jp/events/623

 G8 Dementia Summit Japan Event (Exhibition Booth)
Date: Wednesday, November 5, 9:30AM - 5:30PM
Thursday, November 6, 9:30AM - 5:30PM
Place: Roppongi Academyhills (conference room 7)
Roppongi Hills Mori Building 49F, Roppongi 6-10-1, Minato-Ku, Tokyo, Japan. 106-6149.
Contact: http://www.ncgg.go.jp/index_dementia2014.html

 Dialogue Workshop using the “Words for a Journey”
Date: Sunday, November 16, 2:00PM - 4:30PM
Place: Center for Global Communications, International University of Japan (GLOCOM)
Roppongi 6-15-21, Minato-Ku, Tokyo, Japan, 106-0032.
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 Iba Laboratory Workshop Space at SFC Open Research Forum (ORF) 2014
Date: Friday, November 21 and Saturday, November 22
Place: Tokyo Midtown Hall (Midtown East B1F)
Akasaka 9-7-1, Minato-Ku, Tokyo, Japan. 107-0052.

Words for a Journey – The Art of Being with Dementia
Iba Laboratory, Keio University x Dementia Friendly Japan Initiative

Words for a Journey – The Art of Being with Dementia collects practical knowledge on living withdementia. Though many hold negative impressions of the disease, there are still many who are living
well with dementia. They have not given up everything in their life just because they have the disease.
The book collects wisdom and stories from such people, and extracts its essence to be shared widely.
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More specifically, the information in the book is formatted into small pieces of hints. Each hint
describes a “context” that people with dementia and the people around experience, and a “problem” thatis commonly associated with the situation. Following this, a “solution” on how to cope with theproblem is described. By reading the information, current problems can be worked to be solved, andany potential risks of future problems can also be reduced.

Words for Sharing Ideas
As a distinctive feature of the book, each positive and practical piece of wisdom has been given an
original name. For example, a hint that says to “create a place where the person with dementia can visiton their own, which the family also knows about” is titled “Favorite Place,” and another that says to“make the cared person’s room reflect them by filling it with the things that tell stories of momentsfrom their life” is given the name “Self-Reflecting Room.” This is one of the merits of pattern languages- by making an original word for each piece of knowledge, people can use the new words their everyday
life to talk about, share, and use the ideas of other people.

Recapturing Dementia as "A New Journey"It is a fact that a person will have make some big changes in their lifestyle once diagnosed withdementia. However, these big changes can be thought of as a start of a new journey - a journey to live
well with dementia. By spending longer times as a family for caregiving, members of the caregivingfamily will be able to get to know about the cared person better. The time to come is not a time to lose,
but a time to gain even more. How the family spends this time is completely up to them. The bookrecaptures this change in the family as "A New Journey," and the words that describe the wisdom ofliving well with dementia are called "Words of a Journey."

Enabling Collaboration among Different Stakeholders
The words in this book is categorized into three groups - "WORDS FOR THE CARED" or words
for the person with dementia, "WORDS FOR THE CARING" or words for the patient's family, and"WORDS FOR EVERYONE" or words for people in the society in general. Each group contains words
that provide problems and solutions for the person in the corresponding group.
A reader can start by reading words from their own group, but then can go ahead and read the words
from other groups as well. They should be able to take a peek at the problems and hopes that people in
the other groups might be holding. This way, all three parties can support each other to live well withdementia. By using the "Words for a Journey," people among the different groups can share their
wisdom to face the disease.

The Format of the Words for a Journey - Pattern Language
Pattern Language is an idea proposed by architect Christopher Alexander for scribing out people'sknowledge. Alexander found repeatedly seen relationships between objects in a beautiful towns andbuildings, and decided to call them "patterns". He suggested collecting these patterns into one collection
so it would become a "language" to be shared among people, so that everyone can join in on thebuilding process of houses and towns. This organized format of writing out the context, problem, andsolution of practical knowledge is used in many fields - its largest being software design - to enhance
the creativity of people.
Takashi Iba, associate professor at Keio University, is the pioneer in applying the method to creative
human actions, and is now leading many studies and practice in and out of Japan. His works include
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the Learning Patterns, a pattern language for creative learning, the Presentation Patterns, a patternlanguage for giving creative presentations, the Collaboration Patterns, a pattern language for creative
collaborations, the Generative Beauty Patterns, a pattern language for living beautifully and lively, andthe Survival Language, a pattern language for preparing for and surviving large earthquakes. ThePresentation Patterns has also an extended version published, which the book was nominated the Good
Design Award in 2013.

About this ProjectThis project is the result of collaborative work between associate professor Takashi Iba and thestudents at the Iba Laboratory with corporate members of the Dementia Friendly Japan Initiative
including Center for Global Communications at International University of Japan (GLOCOM), Fujitsu
Laboratories Ltd., KOKUYO S&T Co., Ltd., and Dai Nippon Printing Co., Ltd.. This organization
challenges the problems associated with dementia as a team that extends beyond just medical andwelfare studies.
Of the elderly people over the age 65 in Japan, it is said that over 8 million have the disease if weinclude those with lighter symptoms. That maths up to 1 in 4 elderly - 1 in 15 Japanese in general having dementia. On top of this, it is said that a quarter of Japan's population will be over the age 75 in
2025, and failures of the balance in the elderly care system is feared. The Iba Laboratory of Keio
University will continue working with corporations, NPOs, and the government to create patternlanguages for the well-being of humans.

About Prof. Takashi Iba
Takashi Iba is an associate professor at the Faculty of Policy Management and the Graduate Schoolof Media and Governance of Keio University, Japan. He is also research fellow at Center for GlobalCommunications, International University of Japan (GLOCOM). His research interest is the nature ofcreativity and works to build media to nurture it. With collaborate with his students, Dr. Iba has createdmany pattern languages concerning human actions, including learning, presentations, collaboration,education, entrepreneurship, and beauty. He received a Ph.D. in Media and Governance from Keio
University in 2003, and continued as a visiting scholar at the MIT Center for Collective Intelligence,2009–2010.
He has authored many academic books such as Learning Patterns: A Pattern Language for CreativeLearning (2014), Presentation Patterns: A Pattern Language for Creative Presentation (2014),
Collaboration Patterns: A Pattern Language for Creative Collaboration (2014), and many academic
books in Japanese such as the bestselling Introduction to Complex Systems: An Adventure to the
Frontier of Knowledge (1998, in Japanese), and many others including Pattern Languages (2013, inJapanese), Social Systems Theory (2011, in Japanese), and Presentation Patterns (2013, in Japanese,
received the GOOD DESIGN AWARD 2013).
If you have any inquiries about this release please contact the following project or office.
“Words for a Journey” Project, Iba Laboratory, Keio University.
E-mail： journey@sfc.keio.ac.jp
Office of Research Development and Sponsored Projects, Keio University
ADDRESS: Endo 5322, Fujisawa, Kanagawa, Japan. 252-0882
TEL: 0466-49-3436 / FAX: 0466-49-3594 / E-mail: kri-pr@sfc.keio.ac.jp
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