Japan Care Concierge
The English-language guide to elderly care in Japan.
Long-term care insurance, care levels, costs, nursing homes, and home care — explained so families abroad and foreign seniors in Japan can act on them.
Start Here
Four situations, four reading paths
Pick the one closest to yours. Each path collects the guides, articles, and support options that matter for that situation.
Supporting a parent in Japan from another country: warning signs, local contacts, and how to act remotely.
Living in Japan as an older foreign resident: care insurance, certification, and daily-life support.
Planning a move with an aging parent: the residence-status gate, insurance timing, and the first 90 days.
Premium long stays with medical and accessibility needs: discreet planning and coordination.
Browse by Topic
10 guides to Japan's care system
The core of the library: how the system works, what it costs, and how to use it, whether you live in Japan or abroad.
Japan Long-Term Care Insurance
Kaigo hoken in plain English: who qualifies, how certification works, what families pay, and the first municipal steps for residents and families abroad.
Read the guide
Care Levels in Japan
What the seven care levels (yo-shien 1-2, yo-kaigo 1-5) mean, how the assessment works, and how families can prepare so the result reflects reality.
Read the guide
Home Care vs Facility Care
A practical comparison of home care and facility care in Japan: safety, costs, the covered toolkit, and the triggers that tell families when to reconsider.
Read the guide
Elderly Care Costs in Japan by Care Type
Monthly elderly care costs in Japan by path: home care, tokuyo, group homes, private paid homes, sa-ko-ju, reductions, and hidden family costs.
Read the guide
Japan Community Support Centers for Elder Care
How Japan's free community support centers help older residents: what they do, who can call, what to prepare, and where families abroad fit.
Read the guide
Care Managers in Japan
What care managers in Japan do, why their service is free, how to choose and change one, and how distant families can use the monthly visits well.
Read the guide
Caring for Parents in Japan from Overseas
A practical playbook for overseas families: warning signals, local contacts, care insurance steps, decision rules, and family reporting.
Read the guide
Moving to Japan with Elderly Parents
What to confirm before moving to Japan with an elderly parent: the residence-status gate, insurance timing, medication rules, and the first 90 days.
Read the guide
How to Retire in Japan as a Senior
The whole picture in order: the residence routes that exist, the five public systems you enter, what it costs, and where each decision needs a specialist.
Read the guide
Returning to Japan to Retire
The U-turn, not the first move: how a former resident re-registers and re-enters Japan's public systems in later life, in order, starting from juminhyo.
Read the guideLatest Articles
207 articles for decisions families actually face
Refusing help, hospital discharge, paying from abroad, choosing a facility: short articles organized by the situation, not the institution.
Tools
Quick ways to orient yourself
Care needs check
Answer a few questions about the situation and see which part of the care system to approach first.
Cost simulator
Estimate monthly elderly-care costs in Japan by care path: home care, group home, tokuyo, or private facility.
Care glossary
The Japanese care terms families keep meeting (kaigo hoken, yo-kaigo, tokuyo), explained in English.
Who Runs This Site
Operated with Japanese care-service experience
Japan Care Concierge is operated with the care-service experience of Shinkou Fukushikai, a social welfare organization operating services under the Cross Heart name in Kanagawa. We write these guides to make Japanese care quality understandable and reachable for international families.
- Guides grounded in Japanese care-sector operations
- English-Japanese coordination when families need someone to act locally
- Clear boundaries: we explain and coordinate; we do not provide medical diagnosis or emergency response
