Digital Approaches to Dealing with Ageing-Related Challenges at Different Levels in Japan

Abstract

The “World Social Report 2023: Leaving no one behind in an ageing world” by the United Nations describes the ageing of the world's population as an irreversible global trend. This trend is particularly significant in Japan. Here, the ageing processes have progressed much further than in other countries, also driven by two age cohorts with particularly high birth rates, known as the baby boom, followed by decades of a baby bust (Nennstiel 2011; Reher 2015). This has fundamental social and spatial implications (Pauly and Pallagst forthcoming). Digitalization processes are being strongly promoted in Japan. As part of the Japanese government's Society 5.0 program, all areas of life are to be digitalized as an approach to overcome social challenges. Cyberspace and physical space are to be merged (Hitachi-UTokyo Laboratory 2018; Pallagst et al. 2024). This raises the question of how the Japanese approach to digitalization actually addresses the social and spatial challenges posed by ageing processes. At national level, the PLATEAU project must be mentioned in this context, in which the Japanese government is developing a national digital twin in which around 500 cities are being modeled (Seto et al. 2023, MLIT n.d.) as well as a national big data analysis tool for strategic benchmarking purposes (Matsuura 2020). On the local and regional level, on the other hand, there is a focus on the development of platforms that create a digital space designed to overcome barriers caused by physical limitations and social isolation. Metaverse environments of communities with use cases like avatar cafés, for example, are emerging. (Pauly and Pallagst forthcoming). The mentioned digital approaches at different levels in Japan are discussed in this contribution and linked to ageing-related challenges that were derived as part of the research project “Ageing Smart – Designing Spaces Intelligently”. Interviews with experts and stakeholders on site in Japan in 2024 provided important insights in this regard