A crisis in nursing care is brewing. The government estimates that the nation will be short of 300,000 professional caregivers by 2025, when postwar baby boomers will be 75 or older and many will need regular care.
The health ministry says Japan will need 2.5 million caregivers by then to look after the "dankai no sedai" (lump generation), and attaining that figure will require a drastic shift in policy to promote caregiving as a career, a ministry official told the Japan Times.
But the nursing care industry, which includes assisting the elderly and other people with special needs either in their homes or in dedicated facilities, has a negative image.