Tag - care

 
 

CARE

Takaji Wakita, deputy head of the Japan Institute for Health Security, speaks during an interview on April 21 in Tokyo's Shinjuku Ward.
JAPAN / Science & Health
May 8, 2025
Japan bolsters pandemic readiness with new health crisis institute
The Japan Institute for Health Security represents the centerpiece of a strengthened framework designed to apply lessons from the early missteps of the COVID-19 crisis.
The health ministry and some municipalities are turning to spot workers to solve the labor shortage in the nursing care industry.
JAPAN / Society
May 5, 2025
More nursing care facilities in Japan embrace 'spot work' amid labor shortage
The demand for care providers is expected to rise to around 2.4 million by fiscal 2026 and about 2.72 million by fiscal 2040.
A survey by a labor union of home care business operators and care managers found that nearly 90% of facility managers had turned down service requests at least once during the past year, citing insufficient staffing.
JAPAN
May 5, 2025
Worker shortage forcing home care providers to turn away clients, survey finds
In the survey, 19.3% of care managers said some older adults are being left without any care at all due to a worker shortage.
A revised child welfare bill passed the Upper House plenary session on Friday as cases of child abuse rise.
JAPAN / Society
Apr 18, 2025
New bill blocks visitations for parents suspected of child abuse
The revision to the child welfare law is intended to protect children in cases where contact with their parents could cause emotional or physical harm.
High school student Soa Ono, 17, assists an elderly woman during a recreational activity at a nursing care facility in Nagoya in late February.
JAPAN / Society / Regional voices: Chubu
Apr 7, 2025
Caregiver apprenticeship for high school students expanding in Aichi
The program allows apprentices to earn an income while acquiring knowledge and skills through hands-on experience.
Upper House Budget Committee chief Yosuke Tsuruho (right) and his Lower House counterpart, Jun Azumi, meet in Tokyo on Wednesday.
JAPAN / Politics
Mar 12, 2025
Medical cap fumble paves way for unprecedented second revision of fiscal budget
While there have been cases of bills returning to the Lower House after amendments in the Upper House, it has never happened with the budget.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba speaks to reporters in Tokyo on Friday about his decision to cancel plans to raise the ceiling on out-of-pocket expenses for high-cost medical care.
JAPAN / Politics
Mar 8, 2025
Ishiba cancels planned August medical expense cap hike
It is the third time the Ishiba administration has changed its policy on the high-cost medical care system.
Obstetrician and gynecologist Song Mihyon
JAPAN / Science & Health
Mar 7, 2025
Doctor urges awareness of a birth control pill covered by health insurance
“I think doctors need to tell their patients that a birth control pill covered by health insurance exists,” Song Mihyon said.
A sign shows directions to a public toilet. Saitama police have arrested a nursery school director for urinating in a student’s water bottle.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Mar 6, 2025
Saitama nursery school staff arrested for urinating in student's water bottle
School director Toshifumi Miura, 24, said he was “trying to scare the boy into obeying” him.
Foster City, California’s Gilead is laser-focused on HIV and is seeking an actual cure.
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 6, 2025
Gilead's Japan head says nation can be among first to end HIV epidemic
The pharmaceutical powerhouse has drugs that disrupt the transmission of the virus, one of which has been approved for prevention in Japan.
The government will raise the out-of-pocket expense cap for expensive medical treatments this August as planned, but will reconsider plans for further increases, Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba told parliament on Friday.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Mar 2, 2025
Japan to reconsider medical expense cap hike plan: Ishiba
The expense ceiling hike is slated to be conducted in three stages from this year to 2027.
Leaders of patients' groups submit signatures opposing the move by the government to raise the medical copayment ceiling on Wednesday.
JAPAN / Science & Health / EXPLAINER
Feb 14, 2025
Japan to rethink medical copayment hike amid patient outcry
Many patients, especially those undergoing costly but effective cancer therapy, say a hike might force them to abandon their treatments.
By cancer type, the 10-year survival rate was 57.9% for stomach cancer, the most common cancer among the patients surveyed.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Feb 13, 2025
Japan's 10-year cancer survival rate stands at 54% in latest survey
The rate was 57.9% for stomach cancer, the most common cancer among patients surveyed.
The government plans to allow foreign nationals to engage in home care services, a sector struggling with a labor shortage.
JAPAN
Feb 7, 2025
Japan looks to allow foreign nationals to engage in home care services
Non-Japanese would be allowed to work in the sector if they meet certain conditions, such as receiving training.
The day care room for younger children at a multipurpose facility on Tonaki Island, Okinawa Prefecture, has never been used since its establishment in 2019.
JAPAN / Society / Regional Voices: Okinawa
Feb 3, 2025
The harsh reality of migration outflow on Okinawa’s least populated island
Since Tonaki Island established its only day care center in 2019, not a single child has set foot inside.
A district court Thursday found a former worker of a nursery school not guilty of assaulting and killing a 1-year-old girl in 2017.
JAPAN
Jan 16, 2025
Ex-nursery worker ruled not guilty over girl's death in 2017
Judge Takeshi Okuyama, who presided over the lay-judge trial at Yokohama District Court in Kanagawa Prefecture, issued the ruling.
A busy street in Tokyo on Dec. 30. The number of influenza patients per clinic, on average, in the final week of December was the highest since health ministry records began in 1999.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Jan 10, 2025
Japan's health ministry reports record-high flu cases
In the week through Dec. 29, the total number of reported flu cases was nearly three times the number from the same period in 2023.
Retirees dance at a park in Beijing
BUSINESS
Jan 6, 2025
Singapore hospital operator targets wealthy boomers in China
The company is building similar projects in major Chinese cities, investing 31 billion yuan in medical and eldercare.
People in temporary housing units in quake-hit Wajima, Ishikawa Prefecture, use a bus to go out on Dec. 16.
JAPAN / Society
Dec 29, 2024
Nursing care needs surge in Noto quake-hit areas
The increase is believed to be due to a drop in daily exercise amid prolonged living in temporary housing because of disaster-related evacuations.
Official prices of nearly half of drugs in Japan will be reduced to lower the burden on patients.
JAPAN
Dec 25, 2024
Japan ministers agree on price cuts for half of all drugs
Ministers also agreed to raise the upper limit on out-of-pocket medical expenses.

Longform

Dangami House is a 180-year-old former samurai residence of the Kato clan, who ruled over Ozu, Ehime Prefecture, until the Meiji Restoration.
A house, a legacy and the quiet work of restoration in rural Japan