Social Improvement and Life Design Research Department

A multidisciplinary approach to reducing the risks of daily living

Major research themes
・Enhancement of the social security system
・Transformation of household and family
・Marriage trends and the declining fertility rate
・Work style trends
・Trends in attitudes and values of individuals
・Marketing of financial and insurance products
・Gerontology

Life design for the individual and society

Amid society's profound structural changes, people are increasingly being exposed-and sensitized-to risks that threaten their financial and individual well being. Reducing these risks for individuals and society is the essence of life design research. Drawing on our expertise across areas such as social security, household and family transformation, and consumer awareness, we envision the systems that will enhance life design, and conduct empirical research toward their development.

Human resource management and work styles

The evolving social environment poses huge challenges for companies, including aging, declining fertility rates, economic globalization, and social security revisions. Through case studies, consulting work, surveys of work attitudes, and other means, we look for trends affecting human resource management and work styles, and propose practical solutions for national policy as well as corporate human resource management.

Life design information infrastructure

We are building an integrated database on social security systems worldwide to serve as he information infrastructure for life design research. In addition, based on our core competencies in gerontology, consumer surveys on finance and insurance, and life-course panel studies of middle-aged and elderly persons, we analyze lifestyles in the aging society from a multidisciplinary perspective, and propose themes for life design in the coming era, including motivational and quality of life issues.