Japan’s Unconventional Approach to Elderly Dementia

EDGE participants meet representatives of DAYS BLG to learn about their local programmes to empower and assist the elderly with dementia. Source: CLC.

Car washing is one of the activities that DAYS BLG residents can choose to engage in. Source: CLC.

In Tokyo, there is an unconventional daycare service for elderly persons who experience dementia. At DAYS BLG — the initials stand for “Barriers Life Gathering” — residents make their own decisions on how they would like to spend their day.

Founded by Takayuki Maeda five years ago, DAYS BLG’s mission is to support people with dementia by getting them involved and active in the community. The non-profit organisation believes that keeping residents active and making them self-reliant will help arrest or slow the degeneration that comes with dementia.

This May, 25 Singapore participants on the 11th CLC Executive Development & Growth Exchange (EDGE) Programme programme met the founder, staff and residents of DAYS BLG. Mr Maeda explained to the visitors how, every morning, residents get together to decide what they want to do for the day. Jobs range from washing cars to selling vegetables to the local community. They can also plan what they would like to eat at meal times.

Washing cars may sound strenuous, but the founder and staff at DAYS BLG believe such moderate exercise can help minimise the risk of muscular atrophy. At regular elder daycare centres, residents would sit around for long periods, which often resulted in weakened muscles and limbs.

In addition, nursing homes, including those in Singapore, often have highly controlled environments for safety reasons, due to fears that daycare residents might wander off or lose their way. In terms of chores or jobs, there is also the concern that residents may hurt themselves. Mr Maeda however thinks that because DAYS BLG residents are so engaged in the jobs they choose, they are less likely to be careless or to wander off.

One resident shared with the Singapore group that it was very difficult for elderly in Japan to find jobs. This effectively signalled to them that they should “stay quiet and do nothing” once they retired and became pensioners. However, many still feel they are able to contribute to society and are eager to work and feel useful, instead of staying home.

Today, DAYS BLG works in collaboration with private companies and the local community when finding employment for its residents. For instance, the carwash jobs are part of a collaboration with automobile company Honda, to allow DAYS BLG elderly residents to work at one of its dealer shops.

Honda hopes to replicate the success of the collaboration on a wider and more sustainable scale. A manager at the local Honda dealer shop shared the plan to establish proper employment contracts with the DAYS residents and to offer them a higher salary. The goal is to eventually establish similar programmes to provide work opportunities for the elderly in all 80 Honda shops across Japan.

However, one key barrier remains: the difficulty in getting elderly residents to sign employment contracts. In Japan, pensioners can receive a fixed monthly pension from age 65, as long as they are not employed. This is a major disincentive for residents to sign an employment contract, which would disqualify them from collecting their monthly pension payouts. For now, DAYS BLG residents only receive a small sum of ¥20,000 per month collectively from Honda as a token of appreciation for their efforts.

On whether there have been any studies on the impact of such programmes on elderly dementia patients or the arrest their condition, Mr Maeda said that obtaining data that compares the outcomes of the DAYS BLG’s programme with that of other daycare centres is challenging.

Anecdotally, he cited the example of Mr Sumimoto, an elderly resident who had been suffering from dementia for 12 years with no visible deterioration in his condition thus far. Mr Maeda felt this supported his belief that keeping active would help arrest or slow degeneration for dementia sufferers.

And for Mr Sumimoto, the programme’s appeal is simple: “This is a place where I can meet different people — it’s a fun place for me.”

About the Writer

Leong Wen Shan

Wen Shan is an adjunct editor at the Centre for Liveable Cities, where she covers CLC’s events, such as the CLC Lecture series.