In Japan -- Elderly, Restless and Ready to Buy
In May, Toyota Motor Corp. unveiled the “universal design” version of its Raum passenger van, with an easy-to-read dashboard, seats that swivel sideways and, in some models, hand controls for the accelerator and brake.
The user-friendly Raum, available only in Japan, zoomed out of showrooms. In the first month, Toyota sold 11,000 of them, nearly three times what it had predicted.
“The concept of universal design was a hit,” said Natsuki Den, a Toyota spokeswoman. “It surpassed our expectations.”
Universal design goods and gadgets are made to be accessible to anyone -- the frail, the physically disabled, parents with small children, the overweight -- but have a ready-made audience in the growing senior citizen population.
And whether they are selling cars, household appliances or bathroom fixtures, Japanese companies are taking the lead in developing products and services aimed at older consumers, often by embracing universal design, a concept developed in the United States a decade ago.
Corporate Japan has little choice: A graying population and a declining birthrate have made Japan the most rapidly aging country in the developed world.
And companies in the United States and other countries further behind on the aging curve -- just 12.4% of the U.S. population is older than 65 -- are watching Japan to see how well it wrings sales out of seniors.
“Technically, the Japanese look to us quite a lot for lead- ership,” said Kate Vanderheiden, a manager at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Trace Center, a federally funded rehabilitation engineering research center. “But as a society, they were far more interested, much faster, than the U.S. in the concept of universal design.... It was the demographics that was driving them.”
Today, 24 million Japanese, representing 19% of the population, are older than 65. That’s expected to rise to 28.7% by 2025 and to 35.7% by 2050.
“Before, when the population of elderly people was small, companies had to make a special effort to produce for the elderly,” said Yutaka Kobayashi, a senior researcher at Yano Research Institute in Tokyo. “Now, they cannot avoid thinking about this elderly market.”
Although young women traditionally have driven Japanese consumer trends, the over-65 set controls more than half of the wealth in Japan. Seniors who put $49 billion toward goods and services in 2001 could be spending $66 billion by 2011, according to UFJ Institute, a Tokyo research group.
One thing Japanese companies have learned: Senior citizens want products that allow them to continue active lifestyles. As in the United States, improvements in diet and medical care mean seniors are living more independent, busy lives. They don’t want to be labeled old or treated with kid gloves.
So, to cater to them, Japanese companies are writing new chapters in universal design. At Tripod Design in Tokyo, for instance, it’s the Handy Wormy.
President Satoshi Nakagawa came up with the idea for the Handy Wormy, one of Tripod’s most popular products, when he was consulting for Ito-Yokado Co., a large Japanese retail conglomerate.
Nakagawa, who began his career teaching art to disabled children, noticed that many women folded a handkerchief or towel and used it to cushion their hands when they picked up heavy shopping bags. His solution: a colorful plastic worm-like handle that hooks onto a bag and distributes the weight more evenly. Tripod has sold 600,000 Handy Wormys, which retail for about $3 apiece.
Tripod’s other products include an easy-to-grip pen called the Handy Birdy, slip-on walking shoes and a line of lightweight luggage.
“As we age, we will lose our depth perception and our color range,” said Nakagawa, whose products will be exhibited in September in New York in an event sponsored by the Japan Society. “Life becomes confusing. We need to make it as simple as possible.”
A wide range of Japanese companies, from food processors to stationery companies, are following universal design principles.
Kokuyo, Japan’s leading stationery firm, has a line of 400 universal design products, including staplers and scissors with lightweight handles for people whose grips aren’t as strong as they used to be.
The country’s leading mobile phone company, NTT DoCoMo, has developed a loyal following among senior citizens with its Raku-raku-hom (Easy Phone) mobile phone featuring an easy-to-read design with few buttons.
Food companies are jumping into the fray too, producing low-calorie, lightly seasoned products aimed at seniors’ palates and food supplements and vitamin products touted for their anti-aging properties.
Like many other Japanese firms, Citizen Watch Co. is taking its show to the United States, where it soon will begin selling a Tripod-designed watch with a large display face and a pop-off band for easy removal.
None of this is to say that Japanese corporations are ignoring the traditional senior sector of elderly care and nursing home services. In fact, some companies are using nursing homes as universal design testing grounds.
At Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., an arm of the Japanese electronics giant best known for the Panasonic and National labels, at least 300 people are at work developing products or services that can be used by the elderly or infirm. The showcase is Sincere Kourien, a high-tech nursing home built by Matsushita.
The home, located in the small town of Kourien on the outskirts of Osaka, feels like an upscale Japanese hotel with muted colors, wooden floors and light, airy spaces. Along one side of the lobby is a waterfall that creates “negative ion” energy, believed to improve people’s health. The community areas open onto landscaped Japanese gardens.
The beds are equipped with sensors that automatically lock the doors and send a message to staffers if a person leaves bed during the night. The bathrooms are outfitted with toilet covers that are automatically raised when someone enters the room. The showers are designed so residents can sit while bath- ing.
Earlier this year, one of the residents was Ko-chan, a robot in the shape of a cuddly bear that, boasting a vocabulary of 300 words and 2,000 phrases, played games and engaged in simple conversation. But it was more than a playmate: Inside Ko-chan was a microcomputer that could be plugged into a data line to transmit information to a doctor’s office or play telephone messages from distant relatives.
For six months, Ko-chan entertained Etsuko Okumura in her small, light-filled room, playing math games and singing children’s songs. Okumura, 66, said she missed her furry robotic friend, who had to return to the lab for further refinement before being ready for market.
“I was so sad not seeing him everyday,” said Okumura, who is paralyzed on her left side.
Okumura, who moved into Sincere Kourien last year after her mother died, said the nursing home’s high-tech offerings gave her a sense of independence and security: “After entering this place, I could forget about my left hand. I feel I am surrounded by this safety.”
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Rie Sasaki in The Times’ Tokyo Bureau contributed to this report.
