• 2010.11.7 (Sat) 14:00-17:00 (OPEN 13:30)
• Venue: Auditorium, National Museum of Ethnology, Auditorium
• Capacity: 450 people (entrance free)
• Languages: Japanese & English (Simultaneous interpreters provided)
• Organizer: National Museum of Ethnology
• Co-organizer: EU Institute in Japan, Kansai
  NISAL(National Institute for the Study of Aging and Later Life, Linco"ping University, Sweden)
• Supporter: Embassy of Sweden
  Japanese Society of Cultural Anthropology
  Kansai NPO Alliance
• Download the flyer[PDF: 473KB]

Our society faces an aging populace with low birthrates, and at the same time, it moves toward globalization. There is a growing concern that, as a result of isolation and widening gap in income between rich and poor, more people are left out of social inclusion and cannot have hope. It is well-known that Sweden and other northern European countries have an excellent social welfare system and full life security. On the other hand, a sense of happiness and people’s well-being need to be discussed as a future issue because of a high suicide rate of these countries. In this symposium, we will focus on the life of both senior citizens and younger generations and discuss, regarding hopeful living in Sweden, (1) what is put into practice under what way of thinking, and (2) what is the challenge today. Further, we will review the country’s social welfare system as well as its history of practice in order to realize the hopeful living of the citizens, with making comparison between Sweden and Japan.

Program