Social Inclusion through Guardianship and Trust Research Demonstration Project
Established : Jan. 13, 2009
Photo by AP/AFLO
Overview
More than 6-million Japanese are unable to make rational decisions due to mental illness. However, there has been little use of adult guardianship (just 0.2million instances). As a consequence, there has been an upsurge in passive or inappropriate business behavior on both the buy-side (the elderly, etc.) and the sell-side (banks, hospitals, etc.). It is estimated that for the demented elderly, 2 trillion yen has been defrauded, to which we may add a further 7 trillion yen, which might have been saved,due to opportunity loss.
Research
The Social Inclusion through Guardianship and Trust Policy Research Unitaims to address the following problems in Guardianship system:
- We conduct research on thelack of clarity surroundingthe job and reward status of guardians as defined by the courts
- We offer policy proposals on the absence of specific law and policy regarding Guardianship
- We promote awareness of the shortage of trained guardians, the lack of coordination between available training programs and the lack of a central institute. We seek support in the business community to rectify the fact that presently there is no place for volunteer guardians to register themselves.
Director
Atsushi Makino (Professor, Gratuate School of Education)
Members
Ichiro Sakata (Director and Professor, Policy Alternatives Research Institute / Professor, Graduate School of Engineering, the University of Tokyo)
Shogo Takegawa (Graduate School of Humanities and Sociology)
Shuichi Saito (Director, Shinagawa Ward Council on Social Welfare)
Katsunori Mikuniya (Professor, Policy Alternatives Research Institute)
Hideaki Shiroyama (Dean and Professor, Graduate School of Public Policy / Professor, Graduate Schools for Law and Politics / Professor, Policy Alternatives Research Institute)
Toshihiro Iima (Project Researcher, Policy Alternatives Research Institute)
Others