Recent state and future scope of occupational health in Japan

The most significant characteristic of the working population of Japan is aging. The increase in the senior population puts substantial pressure on the health insurance and pension systems and many health insurance organizations have decided to cut down voluntary programs on occupational health. The nature of occupational diseases has changed from health impairments caused by a single prominent occupational factor to unspecific health problems caused by the combined effect of both occupational and nonoccupational factors. Diseases occurring through this mechanism are called work-related diseases, in contrast to typical occupational diseases. It is no longer effective to simply remove a single hazardous environmental factor, as has been the major approach in occupational health. A comprehensive approach is more important than ever. Health promotion in the work place is therefore one of the most important services in Japan. Along with the improvement of the. work environment, workers' values regarding labor have also changed and they seek working conditions better than the threshold level to prevent health hazards(11)). Under these conditions the basic concept of occupational health should not be limited to only minimizing the minus health effects, but it should introduce the idea of seeking positive health. Positive health always seeks to improve health from any level, but up to now medical science has paid very little attention to positive health and there is lack of knowledge and experience. The highest priority of research in this field is therefore to be found in the development of positive health indicators.