A Research Project in Medical and Historical Anthropology : A Comparison of Life-Planning Practices and Evaluation in Modern Aging Societies

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In aging societies, the means by which older people can lead happy lives by maintaining their quality of life has become a matter of great concern. Instead of having the younger generation extend one-way assistance to the aged, communities should be established where each generation can enjoy a better Ha through cooperation, considering the nature of each region and ethnic culture.1. In my quest to discover ways to live our lives as a whole, I devote the first chapter of my research to exploring the meaning of the word care itself Caring for other people cannot happen without creating interrelationships with them at every life stage.2. Focusing on that point, chapter two of my research looks at the changes in lifestyle experienced by old people living in a depopulated town in Japan, based on my research and interviews. There, both the young and old have joined forces in establishing a new industry to survive. The aged who comprise the core of the workforce have experienced many changes … More in their lives. The changes benefited the other people in town. Caring works only when everything moves in cycles in conformity with the setting and situation of the people who live in a certain place.3. Then, I explored how elderly people have taken part in developing a new culture, and how staff members, volunteers of the institutions and the population in the area have promoted such an attempt, by looking into the operation run by several institutions for elderly Japanese-Canadians in Toronto. Developing a design of a living environment would signify the creation of a new town there, thereby extending the possibility of weaving various relationships among the people related to the place.4. Even in modernized society these days, people have tried to make their schedules more flexible so as to be able to reconsider their quality of life and to live their lives as a whole. I explored capes I observed in my fieldwork in Denmark. Leisure activities-a characteristic feature of Denmark-can be traced back to the popular movement and peasant education led by the theologian and historian Gruntvig of the 19th century. At present, such activities give everyone the opportunity to stop and reconsider his or her well-being, as well as to learn things over again. At the same time, it plays the strategic role of allowing everyone to live as an active citizen in his or her local community. Less