The shocking murders of three elderly residents in a nursing care home in Kawasaki — allegedly by a care worker at the facility — should also shed light on the growing problem of abuse of elderly residents by care workers at such facilities, often blamed on a chronic manpower shortage due to low wages, the tough workload and high turnover of employees. While more details of the case need to be exposed in the criminal investigation of the 23-year-old care worker, including his motives behind the killings, efforts to prevent the recurrence of such acts cannot bypass scrutiny of the working conditions of care workers.
As Japan's population rapidly ages, demand for care workers is expected to outstrip supply. The Abe administration seeks to increase the capacity of nursing care homes to accommodate 500,000 more people by the early 2020s. But such a move without sufficient manpower could make matters worse. The government should face up to the need to improve the conditions of, and support for, care workers.
Hayato Imai was arrested this week on suspicion of killing an 87-year-old male resident of the elderly home with nursing care services in November 2014 by throwing him off the veranda of his fourth-story room. He has also reportedly confessed to similarly killing two others — women aged 86 and 96 — the following month. The suspect has been quoted by police as saying that he had been "offended by the remarks and behaviors" of residents at the facility and he had various troubles on the job. In May, Imai had been arrested and convicted of stealing the wallet of one of the home's residents and was subsequently fired.