Playgrounds For The Elderly: Fit In An Aging Society

7 Nov 2007 Category: Conscientious Design, Features, Japan

Playgrounds For The Elderly: Fit In An Aging Society

Actually, this equipment in Nishi-Kanda Park in Chiyoda, Tokyo, was installed as a way for the elderly to get physical exercise. Here we see the kids taking over.

Japan has one of the world’s most rapidly aging societies. As a result, the number of elderly citizens who are in need of costly nursing care increases each year and a new nursing care insurance law was enacted in 2000. However, there are initiatives for keeping the elderly of Japan fit and healthy: In Tokyo’s Chiyoda Ward, several so-called Nursing Care Prevention Parks have been established since 2004 - and recently became hugely popular! Today, PingMag talks to Mr. Karakawa of the Takao Corporation, who provides fun playground gear for the senior set.

Written by Ayana Watanabe
Translated by Kevin Mcgue

How did you get to make playgrounds for the elderly?

In 2004, the Chiyoda Ward commissioned us to build an experimental model community centre to promote exercise for the elderly and decrease dependence on nursing care. The Chiyoda Ward had already started some programs conducted indoors, in which the elderly do light tactile exercise to prevent senility. However, they didn’t have any means for them to exercise outdoors, so they asked us to construct something to be used in a park.

Scientific looking! Exercise machine for pensioners: “Upper-Body Twist.” Sit in the seat with your feet firmly planted on the ground, and find out exactly how many degrees you can rotate your upper body. This makes the hip muscles more flexible and improves balance.

Grannies’ boot camp! Here we have the “Up-down Stairs.” The elderly sometimes injure themselves in a fall. This simple obstacle course with steps set at different heights can improve balance.

Let’s stretch! Sit down and grab a hold of the rainbow overhead. Slide your hands down the railing to stretch your body, then the other way. This one develops muscles on the sides of the body, makes the upper body more flexible and improves balance. Looks like fun!

Your company makes all sorts of playground gear for kids - but did you have experience making this special equipment?

We have been making what we call healthy playgrounds with an emphasis on exercise for decades. However, our new concept with this equipment is nursing care prevention playgrounds. We took our previous designs for equipment to help sit-ups and push-ups and modified them for light exercise especially for the elderly.

Did you get any advice from medical experts for the development?

Yes. We consulted with the Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Gerontology about what kind of exercise would have benefits for what parts of the body.

With this project, did the demand for exercise gear for the aged increase?

The project in Nishi-Kanda Park received a lot of coverage from NHK and other media. As a result, we were flooded with requests from municipal offices that were getting together budgets for similar projects.

Up - and back down again. Practice on steps and slopes also works to prevent falls.

The next part of the obstacle course – the “Health Walk.” Seniors looking to get fit walk on the concrete bumps and pipes with the arches of their feet, improving circulation, or step over them to improve balance.

Since this gear is mainly used by the elderly, what do you have to keep in mind for manufacturing?

For example, we put adhesive strips on all of the steps to prevent slips. Each piece of equipment has easy to understand instructions posted next to it, and at the entrance to the park, there is an information board that suggests several exercise courses for various skill levels.

A year after our first project in Nishi-Kanda Park, we installed nursing care prevention gear at another park in the ward. At that time, professors from the nearby Tokyo National University of Fine Arts & Music and residence of Chiyoda Ward helped us with what colours for the equipment would suite best the park. They also advised on how to better name the equipment. As in our first project, we gave the gear English names, such as “stretch-step.” But this time we used simple Japanese names that the elderly can understand more easily .


Time for vertical training! Reach up as high as you can and grab a hold. Now relax your body and let all your muscle become limber. Fun for kids, too!

We love these pictograms! Notice the trim tummy on this energetic silhouette?

This is for the kids as well! It was called the “step-stretch” the first time around, but for the second project it was translated in Japanese as “ashi nobashi” for better understanding. Follow the instructions on the left, or just play freely as seen here…

Elderly people learn how to use the equipment at Tougou Gensui Memorial Park in Chiyoda Ward. Courtesy of Chiyoda Ward.

Sounds like an excellent idea! If you happen to see this gear somewhere in a Japanese park, you HAVE to give it a try! Thanks to Mr. Karakawa of Takao Corporation for explaining.

18 Comments

  1. Really innovative designs! I wish we had some of them here is Malaysia too!

    Posted by: nwl on November 7th, 2007 at 8:27 pm

  2. what a great idea- i love it

    Posted by: nwl on November 7th, 2007 at 8:39 pm

  3. they think about people, that’s all.

    Posted by: Sergey on November 7th, 2007 at 8:49 pm

  4. They have these in Singapore too!

    Posted by: Angela on November 8th, 2007 at 12:17 am

  5. That’s really neat and thoughtful. I actually wish they would do something like this in the states.

    Posted by: Amanee on November 8th, 2007 at 1:03 am

  6. That’s really neat and thoughtful. I actually wish they would do something like this in the states where I live.

    Posted by: Amanee on November 8th, 2007 at 1:03 am

  7. They’d never do this in the States - the lawyers would be camped outside the parks.

    Here they’d call them Lawyer parks.

    Posted by: Ten Sigh on November 8th, 2007 at 3:20 am

  8. [...] maka mutlak harus menerapkan universal design di tiap sudut disainnya. Seperti yang dilaporkan oleh PinkMag Magazine kemarin (7 Nopember 2007), di Tokyo (area Chiyoda) telah mulai tumbuh taman2 lingkungan/kota yang [...]

    Posted by: Taman Kota, Nafas Warga « A SUNNY DAY on November 8th, 2007 at 11:32 am

  9. I haven’t seen anything like this here in Nagoya (but this is the back of beyond for tokyo-ites).
    There is a boom in the market that supplies services and equipment for the silver generation. It’s nice to see some interesting designs with a community focus.
    I would also hope that companies start running double decker busses and extra long trains, because there are so many OAP’s on the go nowadays it’s difficult to get (or keep) a seat when you go out. (-0-)V

    Posted by: Nick B on November 8th, 2007 at 2:44 pm

  10. this is a great idea. brings back childhood in adults :-)

    Posted by: heri on November 9th, 2007 at 12:00 am

  11. Cool! Respect the eldery!

    Posted by: Akai on November 9th, 2007 at 7:51 am

  12. There are a lot of these in China — I’d say almost every apartment complex in Shanghai has at least a small elderly person’s exercise area. I wonder if the Japanese designers looked at these while planning?

    Posted by: MF on November 9th, 2007 at 1:06 pm

  13. Amazing idea,
    will totally think about trying importing it to israel’s facilities…

    Posted by: Alon A on November 23rd, 2007 at 4:23 am

  14. it was great. thanks for subject. nice working

    Posted by: kurye on February 22nd, 2008 at 4:10 am

  15. [...] On a Japanese magazine site, I even found a Q&A with the owner of a company that manufactures the equipment for “Nursing Care Prevention Parks. Oh no… grannies’ boot camp! Click here. [...]

    Posted by: Cholesterol Blog - Dean Ornish plan - Low life — The Cholesterol Blog » Grannies boot camp? - Times Union - Albany NY on March 21st, 2008 at 10:40 am

  16. [...] On a Japanese magazine site, I even found a Q&A with the owner of a company that manufactures the equipment for ‘Nursing Care Prevention Parks.’ Oh no… check out grannies’ boot camp! Click here. [...]

    Posted by: Cholesterol In Eggs » Blog Archive » Grannies’ boot camp? on March 26th, 2008 at 4:28 pm

  17. [...] Japan has one of the world’s most rapidly aging societies. As a result, the number of elderly citizens who are in need of costly nursing care increases each year and a new nursing care insurance law was enacted in 2000. However, there are initiatives for keeping the elderly of Japan fit and healthy: In Tokyo’s Chiyoda Ward, several so-called Nursing Care Prevention Parks have been established since 2004 - and recently became hugely popular! Read the full story>>> [...]

    Posted by: Kevin Mcgue - Tokyo-Based Journalist & Filmmaker » Playgrounds For The Elderly: Fit In An Aging Society on March 4th, 2009 at 12:10 am

  18. [...] Another article on Japan’s elderly playgrounds (here) [...]

    Posted by: The Weekly What If?: What If We Turn Austin Into A Continuous Playground And Outdoor Gym? | Public Workshop on October 29th, 2009 at 3:41 am

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