Nearly 400,000 elderly people are waiting to be admitted into special nursing homes, roughly matching the number of current residents, according to a survey released Monday.
The survey, conducted this month by Kyodo News on prefectural authorities, found that at least 382,000 people were on the waiting list for nursing homes.
But some prefectural officials in the survey counted only people who need high-level intensive care, meaning the actual number of applicants is probably higher.
The total accounts for 8 percent of the elderly people certified to require nursing care and includes those hoping to move from other types of nursing facilities, including those for rehabilitation purposes.
Tokyo, Hiroshima and Hokkaido have a particularly large number of applicants awaiting admission.
Special nursing homes are covered by the nursing care insurance program. They are designed to house certified people who find it difficult to receive home nursing care, offering 24-hour services with no limits on residential periods.
There were about 5,900 such homes and a near capacity 400,000 residents across Japan as of Oct. 1, 2007.
Experts say the survey suggests a supply-demand imbalance as a result of the government's policy of pursuing a cutback in social welfare costs, despite the graying population.
Municipalities are to address nursing home problems in their three-year nursing insurance projects beginning in the next fiscal year.