Japan’s first retirement village redesigning itself amid new realities

April 8, 2012

Japan’s first retirement village redesigning itself amid new realities

Yayoi Hattori and Masumi Kawamura continued to run their activity circle at the Minaginomori retirees community in southwestern Japan for almost 10 years, but they hope now that somebody will come forward to succeed their activity.
The Society of Nidowarashi, which means the second childhood or the return to the childhood, was inaugurated mainly by the two women and their husbands in 2002, six years after the community was launched for sale in 1996 as Japan’s first retirement village. The group was so named by Shinji Hattori, who thought that residents can enjoy their new life in the town by returning to their childhood. “Children have a quarrel with each other, but they make it up when they meet the following day, you know,” he said. The society had no rules and no membership fee. “Anybody can come and enjoy whenever they want,” Yayoi Hattori said. (The last photo shows Ms. Hattori speaking at a luncheon.)
The Nidowarashi group suspended its activities at the end of 2010. Hattori and Kawamura agreed to do so, considering their physical strength toward the future. This has come at a time when the new town is trying to adapt itself to a series of new changes, including an increase in younger dwellers and Japan’s continuous economic downturn.
The first activity circle launched by residents by themselves organized parties and tours mainly on the occasion of seasonal events, such as the cherry blossom viewing party, the “Hina” doll festival on the Girls’ Day and the Christmas party. The group invited a semiprofessional male vocal group last year to play before residents. The purpose of its activities was to enable residents to well understand each other and have fun in their new life while breaking with their previous titles and positions.
Because Shinji Hattori, who was an executive at a major general trading house, likes to craft models, the first event by the group was aimed at flying paper planes at an open space. The event continued in a bigger scale for a few years. Male participants got exited about flying their paper planes, while women prepared meals, and they ate together in a break. “This told us the joy of having meals together,” recalls Yayoi Hattori, who worked with a major house builder as an architect.
The new town spreads over two hills north of the central part of Asakura City, Fukuoka Prefecture. The site has a total area of 126 hectares, including a golf course. The town is divided into three districts which cover an area of 76 hectares, but there are no gates or barriers around the community. At present, there are about 30 activity groups and circles, including golfing, tennis, trekking, aerobics, yoga, pottering and Japanese calligraphy. Lectures mainly about current topics are also provided from time to time.
The average age of dwellers was 59.2 at the end of March 2012, against 59.9 six years ago. The reduced average age reflects an inflow of relatively young families. Declines in land prices across Japan in the past years have made residential lots in the town affordable to less wealthier, younger families.
The number of dwellers in the community came to 535 at the end of March, about 35 pct of the projected level, and the number of households was approximately 320, or about 40 pct. The number of residents is increasing 20 to 30 every year. This is the highest growth in percentage among the 19 administrative districts in Asakura City, which has a population of about 57,000.
An inflow of younger families itself is rather welcome, said Yukiyasu Maeda, the head of the town committee. But he also noted that a gap has emerged between the original concepts for the town and the current situation. Specifically, medical and transportation services in the community are said to be insufficient, while there are no stores or eating places.
“We must explore a new community design so that our town can be adapted to the current realities,” Maeda said. As part of initial steps toward a new community design, the town committee envisions introducing a mobile shopping service for residents who are unable to go to downtown for shopping.
The Minaginomori project was launched after 10 years of preparations. The run-up for the ambitious project proved to be longer than expected mainly because of slow progress in land purchases. The developers involved, led by a local bank group, initially expected to sell all residential lots in about five years. But the target failed to be met, because Japan’s economy had fallen into the doldrums early in the 1990s.
The town started with a variety of facilities, including a clinic, a restaurant and a small convenience store. But the restaurant and the store were closed later, while the clinic suspended its business from time to time.
While admitting there are many challenges for the community and it is not easy to solve any of them, Maeda expects to take various measures on the dwellers’ side to improve the situation. The developers are burdened with loans on their past investment, while the local authorities are busy improving their own fiscal house. “That is true, but unless the situation is attended, this town may be a marginal community,” Maeda said. A marginal community, the concept proposed by a Japanese researcher, denotes an area which is difficult to function as a community with half of its population aged 65 or older.
At least some residents are concerned about the future of the new town and the future of their own life. Their fears are linked mainly to the absence of medical or nursing care services that inhabitants need when they become unable to take care of themselves. The developers initially planned to build three condos to provide nursing services in the community, but they were not realized. Nobushige Abe was a key member of the town committee when it was inaugurated in 2002. He worked with other members for four years to try to persuade the developers to meet their pledges to improve the living environment. Some plans were realized, but services for residents remain insufficient, according to Abe. The unsatisfactory situation has led not a few people to leave the town, he said.
“The situation has rather deteriorated in the 12 years since my family came here,” Abe said. “It might be said that this project had been too ambitious,” he said. Abe also said that whether a retirement community itself was necessary in Japan should be considered again.
The developers hope to invite businesses from outside to activate the new community by, among other things, building a residence-style nursing care facility. They intend to continue the current services for residents, and they have no plan to withdraw from the project.
The series of challenges lies for the 16-year-old town, but the Hattoris are satisfied with their decision to live in the town. Kawamura, the other founding member of the Nidowarashi group, and her husband also think so. “I love this town, because we can make friends with various people,” she said. “We also know that some sick persons recovered their health since they came here.” Men are usually less enthusiastic about community activities in Japan, “but husbands in this town are active in solving our problems,” she said. “I think this is great,” Kawamura said.
After Nidowarashi suspended its activities, Hattori and Kawamura talked to each other and agreed to hold a party once again, this time by seeking support not only from former Nidowarashi members but also from fresh female residents. The luncheon party, which was timed to coincide with the doll festival on the Girls’ Day, attracted about 40 people. Hattori and Kawamura thought that the event was a success as participants enjoyed meals prepared by the supporters.
Hattori thinks that the new town can be used as an experimental zone for researches to realize a better living environment for the elderly. Specifically, data may be collected for these studies by setting a lower speed limit for vehicles and introducing less stringent application standards for nursing care insurance.
Maeda sounded cautiously optimistic about the future of the community. The population in this town will increase from now on, he said, “because we will take various steps to activate our community.” The town committee expects to draw up a new community design in a study with the developer side.
The committee will collect residents’ opinions in a questionnaire for the study. “The bottom line is not money," Maeda said. “We must do more to strengthen our bonds by enhancing communication and mutual understanding,” he said.
A key concept in the new community design is expected to call for building a safe town for slow but active life in which many generations of people live in harmony. By drawing up the new design, “we would like to be a top model” in efforts to solve the problems for Japan amid the aging of society, Maeda said.