Last year, more than 18,000 older people living with dementia wandered away from their homes in Japan. Nearly 500 of them were later found dead. Police data shows such incidents have doubled since 2012, underscoring a growing national emergency.
The crisis is propelled by one of the world’s most rapidly aging populations. Nearly 30% of Japanese are 65 or older—the second-highest proportion globally—while a shrinking workforce and strict limits on foreign care workers strain the country’s capacity to respond.
The Japanese government has identified dementia as one of its most urgent policy challenges. The Health Ministry estimates dementia-related care costs will surge to 14 trillion yen ($90 billion) by 2030, up from nine trillion yen in 2025. In its latest strategy, the administration is pivoting decisively toward technological solutions.
Across the country, communities are adopting GPS-based systems to monitor vulnerable residents. Some municipalities provide wearable tags that alert authorities the moment a person leaves a designated area. In others, convenience store workers receive real-time notifications, creating a community-wide safety net that can locate a missing person within hours.
These innovations represent a critical test of whether technology can ease the human and economic strain of dementia—and whether a high-tech safety net can bring peace of mind to families and a rapidly graying society.
By James Kisoo
