I specialize in social demography, which studies population changes in a country or region from social and economic factors. Looking at regions under the former Soviet Union as well as Japan, I conduct quantitative analysis about the impact of an individual’s social environment on their physical and mental health.

I encountered sociology during graduate school at Harvard University, which I entered after graduating from university in Japan. At that time, research regarding regions under the former Soviet Union centered on political and economic fields, and it was safe to say that no one had used an approach from sociology.

Subsequently, I studied at the University of Texas at Austin—a leader in the field of demography in the United States—and embarked on the path of studying the health statuses of regions under the former Soviet Union from the perspective of social demography.

In 1996, Dutch sociologist Ruut Veenhoven showed the importance of focusing on the positive dimension of health—such as happiness and satisfaction—instead of the negative aspect of using disease prevalence as an index.

Often, the health of citizens is measured using life expectancy. However, with the increase in lifestyle-related diseases and advancement in medical treatment, even if people become ill, they can continue living while receiving treatment. We are in an era where people’s health statuses can no longer be measured by life expectancy alone.

Measuring health status with consideration of happiness and satisfaction

Health expectancy refers to the average length of life spent in good health. At the root of health expectancy is the approach of seeing health status from a comprehensive perspective that goes beyond the length of a person’s life to include happiness and satisfaction.

A researcher from Nihon University and I jointly studied health expectancy in Russia and three Central Asian countries—Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan. Our research results were published in 2023 on an online international academic journal.

Our research showed that, even though the three Central Asian countries had a lower level of economic development compared to Russia, their citizens were healthier and enjoyed happy lives. There may be various factors, such as lifestyle habits, religion, and social and cultural characteristics, and I think it offers an important hint about the definition of health.

Research about health tends to focus on the medical aspects, such as the development of treatments and new drugs to treat illnesses. However, it is also important to understand the processes that make people sick. Social demography, which takes an approach from the social environment around an individual —such as family and workplace— has a very big role to play.

Hoping to unravel the factors behind the worsening of women’s health statuses

In September 2023, my research on social insights regarding disparities in men and women’s health received the commendation award of the Nakayama Awards when Nakayama Foundation for Human Science solicited research under the theme of human science for health disparities. The other award recipients were all from the field of medical science, and I was the only sociologist.

In Japan, where there is a national health insurance system, it is difficult for health disparities to become exposed. I think my research achievements were recognized for trying to make clear disparities from a sociological perspective.

Japan is not the only country where women have a longer life expectancy than men. It is a global trend. However, it is said that, compared to men, women’s health statuses are getting worse. This is called the gender paradox. Going forward, I hope to unravel the factors behind the worsening of women’s health statuses in Japan, which is being pointed out for all kinds of gender disparities in society, from perspectives such as women taking on the role of raising children.

The book I recommend

“Brat’ya Karamazovy”(The Brothers Karamazov)
by Fyodor Dostoevsky

I suffered from an illness when I was a student and struggled with the question, “Why is this happening only to me?” The words of Alexei Karamazov—“don’t be afraid of life”—became my emotional salvation.

Interviewed: January 2024