Over the last few decades, the number of Japanese who live in the tri state area have been increasing, reaching almost 70,000, according to the 2004 data of the Consulate of Japan in NY. It has been speculated that the number of the Japanese who are spending their later years in the tri state area, is also on the rise.
In 2006, with the sponsorship of the Consulate of Japan in NYC, the Committee on Aging Issues of the Japanese American Association of New York (JAA) conducted a survey of Japanese and Japanese Americans in the NY area of their awareness on aging issues, targeting those who are age 50 and over.
The major goal of the survey was to identify needs of the Japanese elderly, as well as “near-elderly” who live in the Metropolitan NY area. The data are to be used by the Japanese government as well as other public, private sectors to plan for programs in order to accommodate these identified needs now and for the future.
Between Jan. 22 – Feb.16, 2006, 8196 survey forms were distributed and 1882 usable replies were returned. This is the first time that any scientific data collection of Japanese population in NY area was implemented. Information was collected, compiled and analyzed on: demographic data, living arrangements, health status, financial situations, plans for the future, requests to the Japanese government and more.
Aileen E. Yamaguchi, OTR/L, M.P.H., is a Registered/licensed Occupational
Therapist, and is currently the President of the New York Chapter of Japanese American Citizens League, one of the largest Asian American civil rights groups started in 1929, with 112 Chapters in the United States and Japan.
Born and raised in Central Valley, California, Ms. Yamaguchi received her Masters Degree from the School of Public Health at the University of Hawaii, and attended San Jose State University for Occupational Therapy.
Ms. Yamaguchi has been a Psychiatric Occupational Therapist for the past fifty-years, and has worked in the In-Patient Unit, Day Center program at St. Luke's/Roosevelt Hospitals in New York City. In Japan, she started Occupational Therapy Schools in Tokyo & Osaka, and was an Instructor/Consultant at the Kyushu Rehab College.
Ms. Yamaguchi also serves as a board member of the Japanese American Association of New York, and Senior Program volunteer.
Kiyoka Koizumi, Ph.D., CHES, is an Assistant Professor in the Dept. of Health and Nutrition Sciences at Brooklyn College, CUNY, whose teaching responsibilities include: Healthful Aging, International Health, U.S. Health Care System and Community Health Program Planning. Her research interest includes: Health of the elderly in Japan, Mental Health care System in Japan, Reproductive Health of Japanese Women after the WWII, and Mental Health of the Immigrants in New York City. She has been a member of the following professional organizations: Society for Public Health Education, American Public Health Association, American Alliance for Health Education, International Union for Health Education, as well as a member of the following community based non-profit organizations: the Aging Committee of the Japanese American Association of New York, and Asian and Asian American Research Institute of New York.
Yumi Shindo, MS, MPA, was born in Japan and studies Human Science, with a focus on psychology. After receiving her Master's degree from Saseda University, Ms. Shindo worked at MATHERTH Hikawadai, a day care service center for frail elderly in Tokyo, as a social worker and caregiver. She moved to New York in 2000, and started volunteer work for the Japanese and Japanese American elderly.
While studying at the School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University, Ms. Shindo worked as an intern at Global Action on Aging, NGO under the U.N. umbrella as a research associate as well as at the Japanese American Social Service, Inc., as a volunteer coordinator. After receiving a M.P.A. degree from Columbia, she became a member of the Committee on Aging Issues at the Japanese American Association of NY Inc., and conducted a survey to address general characteristics as well as assess perspectives about aging issues among the Japanese and Japanese American people living in NY area.
