Health Inequalities in Japan

Book excerpt: The life expectancy of the Japanese is among the highest in the world, and their preventive system to avoid nursing care is attracting international attention. Based on a large sample of senior citizens, this quantitative ground-breaking study examines the ways in which preventive care is exercised in such areas as depression, oral health, insomnia, social isolation, and poor diet. The book focuses on the degree to which social inequalities and disparities are distributed among the elderly and it argues that a socio-epidemiological approach that emphasizes psycho-sociological variables deserves special attention. It analyzes the 'social determinants of health' and goes far beyond the normal purview of individual-focused health care to consider the long-term effects of education and investment in social capital for the health of older people. "...a valuable contribution and includes a helpful foreword by Ichiro Kawachi of the Harvard School of Public Health....it is one of the larger social epidemiological surveys to have been conducted concerning the precursors to well-being in later life, and it has gotten the attention of gerontologists, sociologists, and policy analysts in Japan." Journal of Japanese Studies, 38:2 (2012)