Kumiko NAGATA
Tokyo Dementia Care Research And Training Center

Expertise/fields of interest

Dementia care, stakeholder networks, support for community life, community support networks

Profile

Ms. Nagata was born in Sanjo City, Niigata Prefecture. After graduating from the Chiba University Graduate School of Nursing, she worked for the Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Gerontology before moving to her current position in August 2000. She has been a member of the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare's Urgent Project on Medical Care and Improved Quality of Life for Dementia, the Tokyo Metropolitan Council on Measures against Dementia, Chair of the Study Committee on Creating Motivation based on the Opinions of People with Dementia, Chair of the Study Committee on Creating a Campaign for Zero Wandering, and a member of the Project to Promote Evaluation of Community-based Services.

Message

In urban areas and in regional towns and villages, there are a large number of issues related to the highly aged society that will brook no delay. Fortunately, an increasing number of areas around Japan are going beyond merely pointing out problems or seeking partial solutions. They are transcending specialties and perspectives to carry out serious discussions about the futures of their areas and through trial and error are finding unique ways to develop their communities. An accumulation of action research is essential so that such initiatives will lead to sustained development and to the promotion of regional development not just in some parts of the country but in every corner of Japan. These research and development projects are a precious (and rare in Japan) opportunity to make that possible. I will carefully back up the creativity of the people in each research project so that they can lead to research that supports finding and building on the potential for people from multiple generations and disciplines who are part of a community to live richly along with an aged society rather than just research for the sake of research or a community for the sake of a research field.

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