1. Measures for the Aging Society in FY 2004

Budget related to Measures for the Aging Society

Measures for the aging society will be steadily enforced in the field of employment & income, health & welfare, learning & social participation, living environment, promotion of survey and research, etc. The FY 2004 budget related to the aging society out of the government general account amounts to 12.391 trillion yen. Its breakdown is: 5,994.3 billion yen for working & income, 6,310 billion yen for health & welfare, 27.6 billion yen for learning and social participation, 13.8 billion yen for living environment, and 45.3 billion yen for promotion of survey and research, etc.

2. Measures for the Aging Society by Field

New major measures in FY 2004 by field are as follows:

(1) Employment and income

- The Subsidy for Promoting the Settlement of Continued Employment shall be provided for employers launching the continuous employment system or extending the retirement age. In addition, incentives shall be given to employers who will introduce and adopt the Short-hour Regular Employee System for the Elderly in FY 2004.

- In order to realize a society that allows the public to work regardless of their age, good examples of the systems that assist older workers with employment, ranging from recruitment to adjustment to a new office, shall be collected and analyzed at the Japan Organization for Employment of the Elderly and Persons with Disabilities in FY 2004. In addition, related activities, including consulting/support services for each company and attempts to promote awareness and familiarization among the public, shall be carried out with the help of the analysis results.

- The "Review Meeting for Harmonization of Work and Life" has been held since October 2003, to review general employment management from diversified directions. Therefore, necessary measures shall be taken in light of the reports of the meetings.

(2) Health and welfare

- The model project for the standardization of information disclosure based on third party evaluation shall be carried out in accordance with the analysis results of the "Research on the Evaluation of the Quality of Long-term Care Services," which was held at the Elderly Service Providers Association in FY 2003. The model project, which targets seven services including home-visit care, and welfare facilities for the elderly requiring long-term care, aims to promote information disclosure that allows users to select appropriate services, and to improve the quality of long-care services through such selection.

- In order to ensure that service evaluation by outsiders is launched for group homes for the elderly with dementia in all municipalities in FY 2005, support projects shall be conducted, including the establishment of an outside evaluation organization for group homes, and training programs for people who intend to newly open group homes.

- Discussion shall be continuously made for details on reforms based on the "Basic Policy Based on Article 2, Paragraph 2, of Supplementary Provisions of the Law to Partially Amend the Health Insurance Law, etc. (Basic Policy on the Medical Insurance System and the Medical Service Fee System)," which was developed in FY 2002 and was decided by the Cabinet on March 28, 2003.

- Based on the Law for Measures to Support the Development of the Next Generation (Law No. 120, 2003), an action plan, which provides detailed measures for municipal governments and companies, shall be developed in FY 2004. In addition, the New Angel Plan and the Zero Waiting List Campaign (for nursery schools) will end at the end of FY 2004. In response to this, necessary support measures for FY 2005 shall be discussed based on various plans including the Prefectural and Municipal Action Plans.

(3) Learning and Social Participation

- Social education shall be promoted by social educational facilities' developing new services as community-based organizations to solve various problems in cooperation with other organizations.

- On the theme of the "Reconstruction of Local Communities and Structural Reform of Living," research and discussions shall be made to reconstruct local communities based on NPO's advanced activities at the General Planning Subcommittee of the Social Policy Council. In addition, activities shall be done to further promote the awareness and familiarization of the Certified NPO System, and research shall be conducted on the actual status of the system.

(4) Living Environment

- In accordance with the System for Quality Rental Housing for the Elderly under the Law Concerning Stabilization of House Arrangements of the Elderly (Law No. 26, 2001), the subsidies, which aim to maintain such housing and to offset the discount of house rent, shall be given to private land owners who offer rental houses equipped with facilities or functions in consideration of elderly persons' physical inability. Approximately 23,000 of such quality rental houses shall be provided in FY2004.

- The "Daily Road Zone," which aims to create a high-quality living environment by tree-planting in cooperation with roadside residents and eliminating telephone or electric light poles, etc., as well as by giving priority to pedestrians' safe and comfortable use by exclusion of passing traffic, shall be formed. To realize this, shopping areas eager to form such a zone shall be recruited in addition to the 42 districts that were registered in June 2003, and various support measures shall be taken, including consensus building.

- Residential fire prevention measures, including promoting mandatory installation of residential fire alarms, shall be taken in accordance with the reports by the Fire Defense Council that was held in 2003. In addition, efforts such as home-visit guidance for fire prevention, shall be made to decrease the number of persons killed due to residential fires, in particular the elderly, based on the "Basic Policy for Preventing Residential Fires," which was developed in April 2001 by the Fire and Disaster Management Agency.

- Reviews shall be done for fire prevention measures, which had been taken until FY 2002 for new residential facilities for the elderly (group houses, and silver housing, etc.) other than welfare facilities for the elderly provided in the Welfare Law for the Aged (Law No. 133, 1963). In accordance with the review, necessary measures such as arrangement of technical standards shall be taken.

(5) Promotion of investigation research, etc.

- Genome network research, which may clarify complicated vital functions and create innovative medicines, shall be promoted on the strength of our nation's advanced technological capabilities and in light of the detailed mapping of the genome, which was completed in April 2003. Translational research, which aims to steadily develop new medical treatment making the most of results of basic cancer research, shall be promoted based on the "Tertiary Comprehensive Ten-year Strategy to Overcome Cancer." In addition, not only research and development aiming to realize regenerative medical treatment using stem cells or so-called tailor-made medical treatment that enables prevention and treatment suitable for an individual, but also the structural and functional analysis of protein shall be continuously promoted.

Overview of Budget Related to Measures for Aging Society by Field

(Unit: million yen)

Item	Primary budget FY 2003	Primary budget FY 2004	Year-to-year changes
1. Working and income	5,770,461 (35,243,051) <->	5,994,281 (36,446,400) <->	223,820 (1,203,349) <->
(1) Securing the elderly's opportunities for employment and working	14,766 (276,943) <->	14,483 (250,514) <->	-283 (-26,429) <->
(2) Helping working people exhibit their abilities throughout their lives	1,822 (113,764)	1,311 (137,939)	-511 (24,175)
(3) Stable operation of public pension system	5,749,559 (34,842,519)	5,974,412 (36,048,972)	224,853 (1,206,452)
(4) Support of securing incomes for the elderly through self-help	4,314 (9,824)	4,074 (8,975)	-240 (-849)
2. Health and welfare	6,129,799 (364,808) <->	6,310,039 (454,594) <->	180,240 (89,786) <->
(1) Comprehensive promotion of health improvement	114,872 (3,047) <->	109,579 (28) <->	-5,293 (-3,019) <->
(2) Steady implementation of the Long-term Care Insurance System	1,614,612	1,810,203	195,590
(3) Enhancing long-term care services	207,936 (22,420) <->	196,623 (15,752) <->	-11,312 (-6,668) <->
(4) Innovation of the medical system for the elderly	3,874,926 (13,780)	3,975,795 (10,443)	100,868 (-3,337)
(5) Promoting comprehensive measures to support child care	317,453 (325,562)	217,840 (428,372)	-99,613 (102,810)
3. Learning and social involvement	34,625(535)	27,637(38)	-6,988(-496)
(1) Creating a lifelong learning system	21,100 (509)	15,079 (0)	-6,020 (-509)
(2) Promoting social involvement	13,525 (26)	12,558 (38)	-967 (12)
4. Living environment	26,689 (497,673) <-> [13,624]	13,750 (521,101) <-> [23,742]	-12,939 (23,427) <-> [10,118]
(1) Ensuring stable and comfortable housing	- (36) <->	- (0) <->	- (-36) <->
(2) Comprehensive promotion of creating a city in consideration of "UniversalDesign"	11,807 (484,471) <->	12,280 (506,860) <->	473 (22,389) <->
(3) Protecting the elderly from traffic accidents, crimes, and disasters	122 (-)	144 (-)	21 (-)
(4) Developing a comfortable and energized living environment	14,759 (13,166) <-> [13,624]	1,326 (14,240) <-> [23,742]	-13,433 (1,074) <-> [10,118]
5. Promoting research	111,436 (17,765) <->	45,320 (19,302) <->	-66,116 (1,538) <->
(1) Promoting a variety of research activities	84,301 (11,506) <->	43,579 (11,034) <->	-40,722 (-472) <->
(2) Improving the basis of research activities	27,136 (6,258) 12,073,010	1,741 (8,268) 12,391,027	-25,394 (2,010) 318,017
Total	(36,123,831) <-> [13,624]	(37,441,436) <-> [23,742]	(1,317,604) <-> [10,118]

Note:

Figures of budget amount Figures only: general account, ( ): special account, <>: treasury investment and loan, [ ]: loan limit Increasing rate of the total to the former fiscal year: general account 2.63%, special account 3.65% The items for which the budget amount and changes are not identified are shown as -. Therefore, the total and the budget amounts by item are the total of only those identified.