Int.Home Care &
Rehabilitation Exhibition

The three-day exhibition, H.C.R. 2008 opened with opening announcement by Juro Saito, the chairperson for the Japan National Council of Social Welfare. Doors opened after the ceremony with attendance of Mr. Christian Carstensen ( H.C.R. Europe Coordinator from Denmark), Mr. Tom Borcherding (H.C.R. North America Coordinator from U.S.A.) and Mr. Kazuhiro Kobayashi (President of Health and Welfare Information Association).

More than 22,000 home care and rehabilitation equipment were exhibited by 479 Japanese companies and 51 overseas companies from 15 countries and 1 territory. From early morning there was a continuous flow of many visitors to the exhibition, trying out the equipment and consulting with exhibitors with great interest.

After Barrier-free Law came into effect, there have been a lot of issues concerning barriers in various situations in our daily lives such as in transportations, communications and so on. In order to provide solutions to these issues, development of home care and rehabilitation equipment incorporated with the latest technology has been under way at universities and research institutions.
A special area consisting of three corners--“Outing Support”, “Daily Life Support”, and “Communication Support”--was dedicated to exhibit home care and rehabilitation equipment which incorporated with cutting-edge technologies and demonstrations for some equipment were given.

This year again, special area was set up where a comprehensive range of home care and rehabilitation equipment for children was on exhibit. Educational equipment and communication equipment were displayed, as well as wheelchairs and daily living aids. Since children could try out products with their parents’ assistance, this corner drew a great deal of interest. Also consultation was available at no charge on various topics such as usage of home care and rehabilitation equipment, child raising from medical point of view and education.

Recently there are increasing concerns over safety and security of home care and rehabilitation equipment. In order to provide users of those equipment and their families with correct knowledge, we have renewed the program “Select and Use Home Care & Rehabilitation Equipment.” Specialists provided explanations about how to select and use home care and rehabilitation equipment, which are simple and easy-to-understand even for beginner users.

The programs on
September 24th were “Toilets & Excretion Related”, “Bathing Equipment” and “House Renovation”;
September 25th: “Beds”, “Mobility Equipment such as Lift”, “Aid Equipment such as Cane and Walker” and “Wheelchairs”;
September 26th: “Welfare Vehicle”, “Self-help Device” and “Communication Equipment”.

We presented a special program on the theme “Meal,” which brings pleasure and health to your daily life. Lecturers such as a master chef offered lectures on the theme “Delicious, Easy to Prepare, and looking good” They made a presentation to introduce recipes for breakfast, lunch and dinner based on Japanese and French cuisine, and provided useful tips when cooking these recipes. Also dietitians gave some advice regarding nutrition and mastication for the elderly.

Workshops and seminars in 65 different topics were presented by exhibitors to provide visitors with the latest information.

The number of visitors on the second day was 40,970. Exhibitors were promoting and providing visitors with detailed explanations of their products.

International Symposium “The achievement and challenges of France’s countermeasures against the declining birthrate” was successfully held.
Declining birthrate is the common problem for many developed nations. Japan and countries in Europe are now pouring a lot of energy on enhancement and expansion of political measures for nurturing the next generation.
For our symposium, we have invited a guest speaker from France, the country which has the highest birthrate among developed nations, to give a special lecture about the current situation and the issues concerning political measures to tackle with falling birthrate issues. After his presentation, a Japanese guest speaker, Mr. Shigesato Takahashi (Deputy Director-General of National Institute of Population and Social Security Research), hosted a discussion and asked questions based on Japanese system to get better understanding.

We drew to a successful close with 120,773 visitors over the three days. Today was the final day of H.C.R. 2008, the 35th International Home Care and Rehabilitation Exhibition. We sincerely would like to express our gratitude to all visitors, participants, exhibitors, organizations, and related people for their support and also to people in the field of welfare, nursing care and healthcare who cooperated with us to plan and operate H.C.R. 2008.