Home Care: Watching Out for Mom; A Japanese town comes up with a novel way of helping residents care for their parents: a network of electronic sensors.(Cover Story)

Byline: Hideko Takayama

Katsuhiko Takano was worried about his mother. At 78, Yoshiko Takano was still independent, energetic and very attached to her friends, home and gardens--as well as her favorite karaoke class--in Maruko, a peaceful town 200 kilometers northwest of Tokyo. But her blood pressure was a little high, and Katsuhiko, a hairstylist living on the outskirts of Tokyo, and his two sisters wanted to keep an eye on her from a distance. So he called the Maruko town office for advice.

As it turned out, Maruko was already on top of the issue. While 19.5 percent of Japan's population is over 65, nearly 25 percent of Maruko's 25,000 residents are elderly. Of those, 479 live alone. "Considering the situation, we had to give high priority to develop a support system to care for the aged," says Tetsuo Shimizu, a local welfare official. In 2002, the town--along with the Nippon COMSYS Corp., a builder of telecommunications infrastructure--launched a computerized system called the Maruko Town Emergency Report, to watch over the old folks living alone.

Known as the "living-alone- safely system," COMSYS combines technology with the human touch. After thoroughly checking the home design, physical condition and living patterns of an elderly resident, COMSYS installs sensors where he or she spends the most time: say, the kitchen, bathroom, bedroom and living room. The sensors detect body temperature and transmit the readings to family members via the Internet. They also create colorful timetables, graphs and charts that show where and how long he or she stayed in one spot. If an unusual pattern is detected--for instance, no movement over several hours--counselors are alerted, who then call the elderly resident using an emergency device installed in the house. (Families are also notified.) If the ...