d) National Support for the Establishment of Community Centers for the Elderly
In 1963, the National Government started the National Subsidy Program for the Establishment of Community Welfare Centers for the Elderly. These centers are multi-purpose senior citizens' centers designed to provide counseling, health, rehabilitational, cultural, and recreational services for the elderly. These centers also play an important educational role. They frequently hold so-called "Old People's College," which is a series of lectures for senior citizens. In addition, a substantial part of their usual programs is educational rather than merely recreational.
e) National Support for Elderly Education Program
The Ministry of Education started the National Support for Elderly Education Program in 1973, and now adult education courses for senior citizens are conducted at least once a year in almost all local communities.
F. Development after 1980
(1) Policy Statement on the "Society of Longevity"
The proportion of the elderly in Japan exceeded 9 percent in the year 1980. Since then, although the level of aging was still low compared to other industrialized countries, the impact of population aging became increasingly clear not only to those who were directly engaged in work for the elderly, but also to the leaders of various areas of Japanese society. In addition, many people also became aware that Japan was to become the most aged country in the world within 40 years, when the proportion of the elderly in our country will be far higher than the present percentage in the Scandinavian countries.
Thus, in the early 1980's, many national government bodies appointed advisory councils and instructed to investigate policies to be adopted to prepare for the rapidly approaching highly aging society. Among them, the most important was the establishment of the Sub-Cabinet on Aging Society by the National Government. In 1985, the National Government decided to establish a special Sub-Cabinet to deal with policies to be adopted for the coming "Society of Longevity." In the following year, 1986, a Policy Statement on the National Long-term Program to cope with the "Society of Longevity" was adopted by the Cabinet. The Cabinet also decided that progress of the National Long-term Program should subsequently be evaluated regularly.
