Aging and Technology in Japan and Finland: Comparative Remarks

There has been growing concern about aging and increasing needs for care services in our society. In the pursuit of independence and sustainable care for the elderly, emerging technological solutions based on ICT and robotics are expected to be essential. However, the integration of advanced assistive technologies into care services or the daily lives of elderly people is not straightforward. Moreover, the aging issue is a global one, and the solutions could be global as well. This raises the question how can we apply technological care solutions under different lifestyles, work cultures, and welfare policies in various countries and regions? In this chapter, we present the findings and remarks from a comparative study of Japanese and Finnish elderly care service systems, which was conducted as part of an international collaborative project called METESE (Meaningful Technologies for Seniors: Safety, Comfort and Joy). This study aimed to clarify the requirements and integration process of technologies in elderly care in these countries. We applied a mixed method approach, focusing on three types of stakeholders: the elderly, care personnel, and managers of care services. By combining and analyzing this data, we illustrate characteristics of elderly care and expectations for technologies in Japan and Finland from multiple perspectives. This analysis provides insights on how to integrate and harmonize technologies in different types of elderly care service systems.