An evening with the Dementia Friendly Japan Initiative

/

Visiting the ADI conference gave me opportunities to reach out to see who I could connect while there and was lucky enough to be introduced to Makoto Okada, Director of the Co-Creative Social Ecosystem Project at Fujitsu Laboratories and also a leading figure in the Dementia Friendly Japan Initiative (DFJI).  We discovered a mutual interest in improving transport for people affected by dementia as DFJI has a special interest group focusing on transport. Makoto was kind enough to organise an evening gathering in Kyoto, coinciding with the conference, bringing together a group of around 30 people to learn about work in Scotland and Japan and to exchange ideas. Participants included occupational therapists, GPs and researchers.

Mr. Matsumoto, manager at Kyoto's Regional Comprehensive Support Centre spoke about "Planning and managing SOS exercises using the bus in Kyoto." described his work coordinating local transport providers to assist with people affected by dementia who are becoming lost when travelling around the city. By providing a central service that puts calls out to all transport providers, people are found quickly reducing the anxiety of all concerned. The crucial link here is that they have provided information and training to all parties concerned including the police. We saw a short video showing the system in action.

Luckily, a number of friends of Upstream were also at the conference - Philly Hare from Innovations in Dementia, James and Maureen McKillop along with Elizabeth from Life Changes Trust and so they were all able to join us for the evening too. So, in addition to me sharing what Upstream has been up to, we heard from Philly about other work in the UK, from Elizabeth from a funder’s perspective and importantly from James about his own experiences of travelling with dementia.

This all made for a lively group discussion as we compared experiences and different project approaches. Perhaps one of the most notable points was the extent to which people affected by dementia are getting involved in projects in the UK. The network of peer support groups such as DEEP groups that we have been lucky to work with is a precious resource that is, as yet, isn't so established in Japan.

Equally, those of us from the UK noted the coordinated approach that Mr Matsumato had taken in training all the parties concerned. This should be a goal for us - engaging with all the unusual suspects as we sometimes call them - the many different players that contribute to travelling well with dementia.