Ibaraki prefecture is located in the northeast of the nation's capital, Tokyo, and the distance of the prefecture to Tokyo ranges from 30 km to 160 km. The population of the prefecture is approximately 3 million, ranked as the 11th out of 47 prefectures in Japan. Ibaraki is rich in nature. The agricultural product output is ranked as the 3rd, and the industrial product shipment value is the 9th. Ibaraki prefecture also has Tsukuba Science City, which is famous as a center for science and technology all over the world.
Nowadays, preparation for an aging society is our first priority. In fact, the number of children is decreasing rapidly every year. This is a result of a drop in the total fertility rate (1.35, as of 2000), a rise in the rate of unmarried young women ranging from 25 to 29 (20.9% in 1975, 54.0% in 2000), as well as the fact that people come to marry later than before. We are concerned about the serious influence on the Japanese pension system and medical insurance system. Here is an example to show how serious the situation is; an examination of teenagers' attitudes toward marriage was made in the different 4 countries. The questionnarie asked, “Do you feel that you have to marry in the future?”. The rate of teenagers, who said yes, was as follows:
The United States: 79%, Korea: 51%, France: 30%, Japan: 20%
In one sense, these results show that Japanese teenagers don't care much about marriage, continuing of family lines, and the subsistence of human beings. Taking into consideration the freedom of individuals, we must seriously consider the way that young people can meet their partner naturally and initiate a policy to encourage them to marry.
Although the Japanese National Government initiated nursing care insurance last year to cope with aging society, Ibaraki prefectural government has provided the original welfare service called the Regional Care System for elderly people who live alone, the challenged, and patients with obstinate diseases who are not covered by nursing care insurance. The Regional Care System aims at giving each person good care services in combination with doctors, nurses, and volunteers.
Rehabilitation is the key to dealing with an aging society. The prefectural government established the Ibaraki Prefectural University of Health Sciences with departments of physical therapy, occupational therapy, nursing, and so on. Moreover, we arestrongly promoting the rehabilitation support system especially in the Ibaraki Prefectural University of Health Sciences Hospital, which specializes in rehabilitation, to prevent people from being bedridden due to strokes or fractures
In addition, the Prefectural University of Health Sciences Hospital and city health centers have already been connected by TV conference system, so even people who live far from hospitals can be rehabilitated and consult therapists. We also promote to make regional central hospitals for the people who live in the areas where there are few emergency hospitals with skill doctors and high-tech medical equipments. To reduce deaths caused by cancer, which is the worst cause of deaths in Japan, we are constructing 4 regional cancer centers in the prefecture so that peoeple can receive good medical services.
We believe that health is the most important thing. Therefore, we are tackling the health promotion activity to live long healthfully and peacefully in cooperation with all citizens by setting clear goals. We will continue striving to improve health, welfare, and medical services in Ibaraki prefecture.