Abstract
Backed by the increasing expenditure of Long-Term Care Insurance and its strict benefit management, "Mutual Help" as community-based welfare has recently received more attention. To clarify its problems and prospects for the coming years, I surveyed two areas rich in variety and numbers of Community-based Social Welfare Service Association in Tokyo. In the results, one major and common trend was identified : the lack of service members. Beyond the imbalance of service supply and demand, several structural limitations have become apparent : the absence of united care philosophy, insufficient coordination of the parties involved, and overall financial limitations. Thus, when we attempt to expand "Mutual Help" fairly throughout society, we cannot be concerned only with simple organizational expansion, but it is vital that we also coordinate the parties involved more comprehensively as well as working towards a more economically neutral pricing system to ensure supply and demand.
