Takayuki Kumasaka of the University of Shizuoka is a leading proponent of the use of toy animals in "animal therapy" to produce healing effects in patients in hospitals and residents of nursing homes.
The theory is that even toy animals can help relieve patients undergoing treatment or in recuperation from worries about their maladies, leading hospitals and health facilities to adopt the therapy.
Kumasaka, an assistant professor specializing in care of adults and the elderly in the university's nursing school, said Japan still depends on volunteers to provide care for those in need.
He devotes much of his time doing research for wider introduction of animal therapy by trying out robots and toys for the welfare of the elderly.