Module Ageing & Later Life Special Forum

Event Report

Outline

Module Aging & Later Life, one of the modules associated with Medicine & Health Cluster of Q-AOS, carried out an online forum on October 22 (Friday) 2021 from 15:00 to 16:30 Japan Standard Time under the title “Aging Asia: Current and Future Challenges of Japan, China, Thailand and Singapore.” This international forum was conducted as part of the Q-AOS initiatives, which was an integral program component of Kyushu University Asia Week 2021. Masa Higo, Ph.D. (Kyushu University), the module leader, and Leng Leng Thang, Ph.D. (National University of Singapore), a module member, took the lead to conceive and organize this event. They also served as the facilitators for this whole forum in addition to delivering their respective keynote presentations. Two additional presenters were recruited from the module: Feng Qiushi, Ph.D. (National University of Singapore) and Nopraenue Sajjarax Dhirathiti, Ph.D. (Mahidol University).

The forum was set to focus, as evident in the forum title, on key age-related issues that are representative of each of the following four Asian countries today: Japan, China, Thailand, and Singapore. The main goal was to disseminate into the public main findings, perspectives, and arguments of latest research on those issues in order to raise public awareness of Asia as an ‘epicenter of ageing society’ for the rest of the twenty-first century and to facilitate international and inter-institutional research collaborations in the future. Dr. Dhirathiti outlined recent policy developments and noteworthy administrative practices for elderly housing in Thailand today. Dr. Thang discussed current and future challenges associated with long-term care, both formal and informal, in Singapore. Dr. Qiushi delivered a presentation about the interplay between ageing workforce and changing retirement policies in China. Finally, Dr. Higo envisaged the coming of a death-laden society as the next stage of Japan’s ‘hyper-aged’ society.

The forum was carried out as scheduled as a webinar using the enterprise version of Zoom. Over 120 individuals residing in 18 different countries including Japan, and from various regions of the world, registered to attend the event. The turnout reached nearly half of the registrants in number: 64 attendees, who signed in to the webinar at some point during the event. Those attendees resided in 14 different countries around the world. The outcome of the post-forum survey suggests that generally the attendees reacted with positive feedback to the forum; above 90 percent of all the respondents reported a high level of satisfaction with what they learned from the forum.