Demographic Change
Japan experiences substantial population aging and population decline. Both trends pose manifold challenges to society, politics and economy of Japan. Health-caregiving to the elderly population is one sector in which several processes of demographic change intersect, such as a growing demand for eldercare and an increasing labor shortage. Strategies designed to counteract the labor shortage in eldercare include labor migration and the introduction of robotics and technology into caregiving. Two of our ongoing research projects (Labor Migration of Health-Caregivers to Japan and Robotics and Technology Long-term Care in Japan) address these strategies in-depth.
Another topic that members of the Japan-Center currently work on is the question of how the substantial shift in Japan’s population composition impacts political participation, candidate selection and voter behavior. We will update this site with new information as these projects grow.
Ongoing related PhD projects: Anne-Sophie L. König, Stefanie Schwarte.