Yutaka SHIMIZU
Visiting professor, Nihon Fukushi University Graduate School

Expertise/fields of interest

Professor Shimizu specializes in social gerontology and studies of senior citizen welfare, but recently he has also become interested in community welfare research and action research.

Profile

After working as an Assistant Fellow at Kwansei Gakuin University School of Sociology and a Researcher and Research Department Head at the Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Gerontology, Professor Shimizu became a Professor at the Sophia University Department of Social Services. He entered his current position after retiring from Sophia. His recent research themes have included the proper division of roles between formal care (systematized care such as that provided by long-term care insurance, etc.) and informal care (non-systematized care such as that provided by volunteers and community residents) and social isolation of the elderly.

Message

When I was at the Institute of Gerontology, I worked mainly in survey research related to senior citizen welfare in large cities such as Tokyo. More recently, through the cooperation of local cities, social welfare councils, businesses, and volunteers, I have been able to join communities and engage in action research related to senior citizen welfare in regional cities in Nagano and Aichi Prefectures in semi-mountainous communities in Kochi Prefecture. I would like to work to bring this experience into my role as Area Advisor.