2017 Volume 58 Issue 1 Pages 1-12
This paper reviews the history of Japanese home help service from the 1950s to 2000, not only for public homecare support services, which previous review have limited their focus to, but also private housekeeping services. The review finds that the Japanese home help history can be divided into three periods. In the first period, from the 1950s to the early 1960s, there was no clear national institution involved and mainly municipalities provided services for various clients. In the second period, from the middle of the 1960s to the early 1970s, the national system for the public homecare support services was established in 1962, which distinguished public and private suppliers as well as clients. In the third period, from the middle of the 1970s to 2000, as the social background shifted to more an aging population and nuclear families, private housekeeping service began to take care of elderly people living at home, a sector the public service had taken care of previously. As the distinctions between public and private sectors became unclear, reflecting the actual needs and social context, the national institution adjusted to follow the private sector. In conclusion, this review demonstrated the importance of including actions of the private sector in understanding the actual history of home help service.
