In 2017 the population of Hayama Town is 33,377, of which 30.6% are people aged 65 and over. The senior population is expected to grow, especially in the number of seniors aged 75 or above.
It should be noted however Hayama Town has a large number of healthy seniors even they grow older, who are very active in various community welfare activities.
Taking advantage of this fact, Hayama Town is promoting various aging policies and encouraging mutual support among seniors, based on the principle, “Care each other, stay healthy and enjoy life.”
Especially since 2016 the Town has been performing a muscle training program named “chokin exercise” as part of its regional preventive care programs. This practice also helps to widen a community friendly network.
Chokin exercise, designed to keep muscles strong enough for seniors to function well in daily life, is easy for everyone to practice. People can enjoy the exercise while singing a song.
In a friendly setting, people can practice the exercise with others in their nearby community center or simply do it on their own at home. Scientific evidence of the exercise is proved and visualized for everyone to see, showing how effective this preventive care program is and how it can strengthen ties among residents as well.
In the southeastern part of the Miura Peninsula, where Hayama Town is located, municipalities have close ties with each other. In a recent Miura Peninsula Summit meeting, Hayama Town and other four cities jointly stated “the declaration of the peninsula that improve ME-BYO.” The chokin exercise is part of this initiative to improve ME-BYO.
In order to make Hayama Town more age-friendly, we will join the projects of this nature by collaborating with Kanagawa Prefectural Government and other municipalities in this area and aim to extend healthy life expectancy of Hayama Town. Also, we will listen to the needs of the elderly, the opinions of residents as well as medical, healthcare and welfare experts, and reflect these factors on policies. And by linking them with the comprehensive plan of Hayama Town, we will implement age-friendly projects in various fields.
(ME-BYO: Rather than regarding health and illness as being mutually exclusive, the concept of ME-BYO views a person’s mental and physical condition as continuously changing along a spectrum between health and illness).