Microsoft Word - LauBRf.docx Book  Review     Midford,  Paul,  Saito,  Yayoi,  Campbell,  John  Creighton  and  Edvardsen,  Unni.  (Editors).    Eldercare  Policies   in  Japan  and  Scandinavia:  Aging  Societies  East  and  West.    Palgrave  Macmillan.  2014.    ISBN-­‐‑13:  978-­‐‑ 1137402622,  pp.  273.    Price  $105  (Hardcover)     Janice  Y  C  Lau   Postdoctoral  Fellow     The  Chinese  University  of  Hong  Kong,  Hong  Kong                                                           Anthropology & Aging, Vol 37, No 1 (2016), pp. 51-52 ISSN 2374-2267 (online) DOI 10.5195/aa.2016.150 This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 United States License. This journal is published by the University Library System of the University of Pittsburgh as part of its D-Scribe Digital Publishing Program, and is cosponsored by the University of Pittsburgh Press. Anthropology  &  Aging   Vol  37,  No  1  (2016)        ISSN  2374-­‐‑2267  (online)        DOI  10.5195/aa.2016.150      http://anthro-­‐‑age.pitt.edu     Lau  |  Book  Review  51   Book  Review     Midford,  Paul,  Saito,  Yayoi,  Campbell,  John  Creighton  and  Edvardsen,  Unni.  (Editors).    Eldercare  Policies  in  Japan   and  Scandinavia:  Aging  Societies  East  and  West.    Palgrave  Macmillan.  2014.    ISBN-­‐‑13:  978-­‐‑1137402622,  pp.  273.     Price  $105  (Hardcover)     Janice  Y  C  Lau   Postdoctoral  Fellow     The  Chinese  University  of  Hong  Kong,  Hong  Kong       The  present  volume  is  an  impressive  collection  of  research  studies  that  grew  out  of  the  2007  NTNU   Japan  seminar  entitled  “Eldercare  in  Japan  and  Norway:  Organization  and  Quality”  held  in  Norway..    The   content  is  organized  in  five  sections  with  an  attempt  to  compare  the  models  of  insurance  systems  of  Japan   and  Norway  where  each  country  has  distinct  ideational  roots.   In  the  introduction  of  this  book,  the  editors  explain  the  reasons  why  the  two  countries  are  selected   for  comparison,  which  include  their  differences  in  terms  of  demographics,  and  their  target  population  for   long-­‐‑term   care   (LTC)   service.     Part   I   begins   with   describing   the   development   of   LTC   policy   that   are   interwoven  with  political  and  economic  changes  in  the  two  countries.    The  first  two  chapters  (by  John   Creighton  Campbell  and  Kjell  Arne  Aarheim)  present  the  LTC  model  in  terms  of  content,  organization,  and   resources.    The  distinctions  lie  in  the  differences  between  the  governments’  roles  and  responsibility  in  the   provision  of  LTC  services.         The  chapters  in  Part  II  showcase  formal  care  provided  by  various  organizations.    In  Chapter  3,  Yayoi   Saito  describes  a  change  of  structure  and  roles  of  stakeholders:  from  the  role  of  family  members  in  eldercare   during  prewar  time,  to  the  formation  of  pluralistic  care  providers  under  the  Long  Term  Care  Insurance   system  in  2000  in  Japan.    What  follows  is  the  paper  presented  by  Steinar  Bartstad,  who  discusses  whether   the  complex  needs  for  elderly  can  be  adequately  met  by  the  healthcare  services  in  the  municipals  that  are   underdeveloped  in  Norway.       As  a  researcher  conducting  a  project  on  elderly  care  in  Hong  Kong,  the  part  that  caught  my  attention   was  Part  III  -­‐‑  Provision  of  Informal  Care.    These  chapters  (by  Ruth  Campbell  and  Marit  Solheim)  unpack   the  roles  of  informal  support  in  LTC.  They  also  challenge  the  assumptions  of  priorities  of  home  care  in  Japan   where   filial   piety   is   traditionally   valued,   and   emphasis   of   the   government-­‐‑funded   social   care   that   are   mandatorily  provided  by  the  municipals.    The  perspectives  of  gender  and  social  changes  are  taken  into   consideration   within   their   discussions   of   the   “negotiation   of   new   ways   of   care”   (p.116)   in   Japan   and   direction  to  both  “de-­‐‑familiarization  and  re-­‐‑familiarization”  in  Norway  (p.146).    Of  particular  interest  to  me   is  Chapter  6  in  which  the  author  gives  an  impressive  overview  of  theories,  providing  the  framework  to   conceptualize  the  complex  interplay  between  family  care  and  public  care,  and  giving  key  insights  in  ways   to  explore  politics  and  ethics  of  care  responsibility.       Part   IV,   titled   “Procedures   of   Assessment   and   Allocation   of   Eldercare”,   the   authors   examine   approaches  of  needs  assessment  used  in  each  country.    Noriko  Kurube  critically  discusses  the  problem  of   using  a  standardized  tool  to  measure  the  “complex  needs”  of  the  elderly.    In  Norway,  as  discussed  by  Unni   Edvardsen,  the  multiple  purpose  of  the  IPLOS  used  by  different  levels  of  government  suggests  the  needs   to  reform  the  existing  assessment  instrument.    “Mechanism  for  ensuring  quality  of  care”  is  the  final  theme   of  the  volume.    Koichi  Hiraoka  and  Unni  Edvardsen  walk  the  readers  through  ways  to  ensure  quality  of   care.    Their  accounts  depict  the  need  for  regulation  and  evaluation  that  may  be  resisted  by  service  providers   in  both  countries.    The  end  point  of  the  discussion  lies  in  the  future  where  Paul  Midford  envisions  the  needs   for  using  technology  to  support  healthcare  labor  in  Norway,  and  economic  and  political  forces  on  eldercare   in  contemporary  Japan.         Anthropology  &  Aging   Vol  37,  No  1  (2016)        ISSN  2374-­‐‑2267  (online)        DOI  10.5195/aa.2016.150      http://anthro-­‐‑age.pitt.edu       Lau  |  Book  Review  52     Contributed  by  ten  experts,  the  greatest  strength  of  this  volume  is  the  structure  of  pairing  of  chapters   surrounding   an   array   of   sub-­‐‑divided   themes.     Such   organization   makes   readers   continually   keep   comparisons  in  mind  and  gives  both  sides  of  the  debate  equal  attention.    This  book  definitely  provides  a   wealth  of  information  of  the  historical  development  and  contemporary  reality  of  social  care  policy  in  the   two  different  cultural  settings  through  employing  a  variety  of  statistical  sources  and  ethnography.    Several   chapters  (from  chapter  3  to  6)  notably  highlight  female  family  members  as  principal  caretakers.    Still  to  be   explored  is  an  examination  of  policy  implications  on  gender  differences  in  caregiving.    The  single  attention   on   the   perspectives   of   care   providers   may   preclude   critical   engagement   of   the   elderly,   whether   as   individuals,  as  classes,  or  as  consumers.    I  would  have  liked  to  have  seen  whether  voices  of  the  elderly  are   heard  and  how  their  opinions  can  be  addressed  in  policy.   Supported  by  substantial  evidence  as  presented  in  the  papers,  the  subtitle  “Aging  societies  East  and   West”  clearly  invite  the  readers  to  rethink  and  challenge  the  exotic  views  of  “clear-­‐‑divide”  between  the  East   and  West.    This  volume  is  a  highly  relevant  source  for  both  undergraduates  and  graduates  in  the  discipline   of  gerontology  and  public  health.    Researchers,  healthcare  professionals,  social  or  health  policy-­‐‑makers  who   are  of  interest  in  practice  and  policy  design  in  aging  issues  will  find  this  eye-­‐‑opening.