This joint report attempts to examine the influences on the life structure of senior citizens and their families brought about by the changes in the community. Our focus is on the relationship between the decreasing population and the support of senior citizens in shitamachi sections of large cities. The dimensions of analysis are the actual conditions of their lives, institutions and policies, and consciousness. This study constitutes a part of a larger study which aims at clarifying the conditions of self-support of senior citizens at home, the support by the family and their social integration, focusing on the relevance of these factors to social policy. For this purpose, we have conducted a survey on the actual conditions of their lives. The area chosen for the study is close to the center of the city and inhabited by working people. It has a high proportion of aging people and although underpopulated still retains the atmosphere of an old town (shita).
