An Indonesian carer and a Japanese nurse with an elderly resident
Indonesia
Japan Indonesia Healthcare

Japan Indonesia Healthcare · a Japanese incorporated association

Fifty years of care experience,
into the world's fourth-largest country.

Indonesia will cover in about twenty years the road Japan took fifty years to walk. Its people are already at work in Japanese care homes. This association exists so that the systems and the experience Japan built along that road are put to use in the next fifty.

Talk with us Why we started
Registered
一般社団法人日本インドネシアヘルスケア協会
Address
Chambord Kasugabaru C105, 4-20-2 Kasugabaru-kita-machi, Kasuga, Fukuoka
Representative directors
Daiichiro Koga · Kohei Yamaguchi
Established
8 August 2026
The five founders standing together in black scrubs
Four run care and medical businesses in Japan; the fifth is the point of contact in Indonesia TNTomohiro Nagayoshi · Nagayoshi Co., Ltd. DKDaiichiro Koga · Well-Being Co., Ltd. ASAnshar Safri · PT Indonesia Japan Healthcare KYKohei Yamaguchi · Liberty Co., Ltd. TMTomohisa Manada · Kaifuku Honpo Co., Ltd.

A relationship that already exists

Japan's care workforce is shrinking.
Indonesians are already part of what keeps it running.

In fiscal 2023 the number of care workers in Japan fell for the first time on record. Over the same years, since intake under the EPA began in 2008, the number of Indonesians working in Japanese care has kept rising. At the end of December 2025, 86,955 Indonesians held Specified Skilled Worker status — second only to Vietnam by nationality, and the largest increase of any nationality over the preceding six months.

That relationship was not made by policy. It was built one hire and one workplace at a time. Our work starts from there.

An Indonesian carer and a Japanese colleague helping an elderly woman practise walking
0
Care workers in Japan, FY2023 — down 28,000 on the year before, the first fall on record. 2.72 million will be needed by FY2040.
Source: Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare
0%
Indonesians as a share of all Specified Skilled Worker residents, end of December 2025 — 86,955 people. Residents in the care field, all nationalities: 67,871.
Source: Immigration Services Agency, provisional figures
0
Indonesian candidate care workers who have come to Japan under the EPA since 2008, cumulative.
Source: JICWELS
0
Care operators in Japan that went bankrupt in 2025, the highest on record. 91 of them were home-visit services.
Source: Tokyo Shoko Research, January 2026

The road Japan walked

Fifty years ago, Japan stood
where Indonesia stands today.

In 1970 the population aged 65 and over passed 7 per cent, and cerebrovascular disease was the leading cause of death. On top of universal health insurance, Japan then added one layer at a time: free medical care for the elderly, the Gold Plan, long-term care insurance, community-based integrated care. By 2024 the ageing rate was 29.3 per cent and life expectancy 81.09 years for men and 87.13 for women. Cerebrovascular disease had fallen to fourth, and old age had entered the top three.

Sources: Cabinet Office, Annual Report on the Ageing Society; MHLW, Vital Statistics and Abridged Life Tables

A hospital waiting room in 1970s Japan: elderly patients with canes, and a nurse in a white uniform
A Japanese hospital in the 1970s (illustrative image)
  1. 1961
    Universal health insurance
    Every citizen covered by public health insurance
  2. 1970
    Ageing rate 7.1%
    Cerebrovascular disease the leading cause of death, 175.8 per 100,000
  3. 1973
    Year One of Welfare
    Free medical care for the elderly; the high-cost medical expense benefit
  4. 1989
    The Gold Plan
    A ten-year build-out of facilities and home services
  5. 2000
    Long-term care insurance
    Certified users grew from 2.18 million to 7.08 million by FY2023
  6. 2024
    Ageing rate 29.3%
    Cancer leads the causes of death, old age is third, cerebrovascular disease fourth

The same line

In 2025, 7.62 per cent of Indonesians are 65 or over.
The same doorway Japan passed in 1970.

0%
Japan · 1970share of population aged 65 and over
0%
Indonesia · 2025share of population aged 65 and over

A population of 284.67 million. The share aged 65 and over reaches 14 per cent around 2045 — a passage Japan took 24 years to make, covered here in about 21. Life expectancy is 74.47 years, which places Indonesia between Japan's 1975 and 1980. Stroke is the leading cause of death. To this point, it is the same story.

Sources: BPS (Statistics Indonesia) SUPAS 2025; IHME GBD 2021

Older Indonesians exercising outdoors

Where the conditions differ

GDP per capitaIndonesia in 2025: US$5,083. Japan in 1970 was US$2,100 nominal — roughly three times that level in real terms.
Health insurance98.6% of the population is enrolled in JKN. There is no equivalent of long-term care insurance, and the scheme is expected to run a deficit in 2026.
Supply0.69 doctors and 1.38 hospital beds per thousand people. Japan in 1970 had 1.18 doctors and 10.3 beds.
What people are ill withAlongside stroke and heart disease, tuberculosis and neonatal conditions remain among the leading causes of death, and Indonesia ranks fifth in the world for people living with diabetes — a double burden Japan did not carry in 1970.

Sources: BPS, BPJS Kesehatan, World Bank, IHME, MHLW. Full figures and a source list will be published on the data page.

What the difference means

The work is not to import Japan's system,
but to rebuild it for the place it will serve.

Universal insurance is in place. Families still live together. What is missing is the layer Japan added between 1989 and 2000: training for care workers, standards of care, the machinery of home and community services, assistive equipment. The people who hold that knowledge are the operators who run it every day in Japan. Indonesia's public institutions have just begun work on that layer.

Context · April 2025

JICA × Indonesia's Ministry of Health

A three-year project to strengthen care-worker capability began, building care curricula at health polytechnics in Jakarta, Lampung and West Nusa Tenggara.

Source: JICA press release
Context · April 2026

Ministry of Health × International University of Health and Welfare

A memorandum on specialist medical education was signed. Formal cooperation with Japanese medical education institutions is under way.

Source: Ministry of Health, Republic of Indonesia
Context · March 2025

METI country report

Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry published its Indonesia report on international healthcare expansion. Subsidies for feasibility and demonstration studies abroad continue.

Source: METI, international expansion of the healthcare industry

These are not projects this association is party to. They are shown as the environment we work in.

About the association

An association that connects
Japanese operators with Indonesia.

Japan Indonesia Healthcare is the sister organisation of PT Indonesia Japan Healthcare (IJH) in Indonesia. IJH was founded by five people; the association was established by the four of them resident in Japan, who are its founding members. The association holds no shares in IJH. On the Japanese side we run study sessions and visits for members; on the Indonesian side IJH handles the practical work with local institutions.

Japanese and Indonesian staff looking at an X-ray and a document together in an Indonesian clinical setting
Japan

Japan Indonesia Healthcare

Study sessions for members, visits to Indonesia, introductions to institutions there. The directors run care and medical businesses in Japan.

⇄Sister organisations
the same founders
no shareholding
Indonesia

PT Indonesia Japan Healthcare（IJH）

An Indonesian company (PT PMA). It carries the working relationships with hospitals, universities and local government there.

  • Visits to IndonesiaA director travels with the group to hospitals, universities and care settings. One or two a year. Dates and costs are published once they are settled.
  • Study sessionsIndonesia's ageing and its health system, in the figures and in what the visits actually show. The first session is in preparation.
  • Introductions on the groundThrough IJH, we arrange conversations with hospitals, universities and local government in Indonesia.
Visiting a hospital under construction
A hospital under construction
A meeting at an Indonesian university school of nursing
At a university school of nursing
A meeting with a former Indonesian cabinet minister
Meeting a former cabinet minister
A meeting at an Indonesian government office
A meeting with a government office
A courtesy visit to an Indonesian government office, presenting a gift
A courtesy visit to a government office
A group photograph with students at a Japanese-language school
With students at a Japanese-language school
A conversation at a doctor's home in Bali, Indonesian and Japanese participants
At a doctor's home in Bali
A group photograph after meeting a local company
Meeting local companies

The people

Four who run care and medical businesses in Japan,
and one who is the contact in Indonesia.

Titles follow the certificate of registered matters; the association was registered on 8 August 2026. Anshar Safri is not an officer of the association; he is the founder of its sister organisation IJH, and is expected to join the board once he is resident in Japan.

長吉 友博
DirectorTomohiro Nagayoshi長吉 友博President, Nagayoshi Co., Ltd.Assistive equipment; registered support organisation for foreign care workers
古賀 大一郎
Representative directorDaiichiro Koga古賀 大一郎President, Well-Being Co., Ltd.Disability services; hospital consulting; physiotherapist
Anshar Safri
Indonesian sideAnshar Safriアンソル・サフリFounder, PT Indonesia Japan HealthcareLiaison with institutions, universities and government in Indonesia
山口 耕平
Representative directorKohei Yamaguchi山口 耕平President, Liberty Co., Ltd.Home nursing; home rehabilitation; community-based integrated care
眞田 友寿
DirectorTomohisa Manada眞田 友寿President, Kaifuku Honpo Co., Ltd.Assistive equipment; barrier-free home renovation

How we got here

From a first meeting in 2023 to an incorporated association.

Work done before incorporation is shown as the founders' own, separately from the association's. Plans are not mixed with what has happened. Participants are named only with their consent.

BeforeBefore incorporation · the founders' own work

  • Late 2023Yamaguchi and Anshar meet for the first time. It begins with a proposal to go and see Indonesia in person.
  • Mid-2024First visit to Indonesia, one week. Hospital visits and meetings with local business owners.
  • 2024–26Seven visits in all. About twenty Japanese business owners took part across them.

SinceSince incorporation · the association's work

  • Jul 2026Articles of association drawn up, 25 July, as an electronic deed by a licensed administrative scrivener.
  • Aug 2026The association established in Japan, registered on 8 August.
  • —Completed activities will be listed here by date.

PlannedAhead

  • Oct 2026Eighth visit: vocational high schools, a university, and a sending organisation.
  • Winter 2026First study session, in Tokyo and online.
  • Spring 2027Annual general meeting; a briefing for people considering joining.
Japanese and Indonesian members at the IJH office in Indonesia

The Indonesian side

In Indonesia, the point of contact
is our sister organisation IJH.

PT Indonesia Japan Healthcare (IJH) is the point of contact for work on the ground. Its commissioner is Prof. dr. Abdul Kadir, former chair of the supervisory board of BPJS Kesehatan and former Director General of Health Services at the Ministry of Health.

IJH's rehabilitation (J-Riha) and elderly care (J-Care) programmes are at the planning stage. Each will be listed here, with its date, once it is running.

Photograph from IJH's existing material, provisional. To be replaced by asset A8.

Take part

Start with a conversation.

Before any membership or visit, one of the directors will spend about thirty minutes with you. Tell us about your business, and why Indonesia interests you.

By sending this you agree to our handling of personal data.

Joining

How to join

The articles define no membership classes, and members bear no obligation to contribute to costs (article 6). To join, apply on the association's form and obtain the president's approval (article 5).

Recruitment beyond the four founding members begins after the first study session.

Visits

Visiting Indonesia

A three- to four-day visit with a director. Dates, itinerary and cost are published once they are settled.

Contact

Press and other enquiries

Press enquiries and anything else also reach us through the form.

Talk with us