Yuji Kuroiwa is the governor of Kanagawa Prefecture, with currently has a population of 9.2 million people. Kanagawa Prefecture is ageing at one of the fastest rates in Japan, with the proportion of the population aged 65 or older at 25% in 2020 and projected to exceed 35% by 2050. Since taking office in 2011, Yuji Kuroiwa has been promoting the “Healthcare New Frontier” policy to maximise the opportunities presented by this super aged society, and has been working to expand the implementation of age-friendly cities and communities and integrated care for older people at local, regional, and international levels.
To promote the creation of age-friendly environments, Yuji Kuroiwa has been committed to support the efforts of WHO's Global Network for Age-Friendly Cities and Communities throughout his career. Whereas previously there were only two municipalities participating in this network in Japan, 22 cities and towns in Kanagawa have now joined the network through his work through the prefecture. In line with this membership, Yuji Kuroiwa and Kanagawa continues to promote specific initiatives to create age-friendly environments, such as developing local communities where multiple generations can gather and work together and supporting young people to move into housing complexes with older residents and encouraging them to take part in social activities, in collaboration with the Kanagawa University of Human Services.
To promote integrated care for older people, Yuji Kuroiwa was also instrumental in contributing to and supporting the development of WHO’s Integrated Care for Older People (ICOPE) framework. For example, Kanagawa has contributed the "ME-BYO" concept to national and global approaches to healthcare, which literally means pre-symptomatic disease in Japanese. "ME-BYO" perceives a state of mind and body as a continuum of change between healthy and sick, rather than the conventional dichotomy of healthy or sick - enabling, for example, healthy ageing to be conceptualised as an inclusive process that can be enjoyed by a wide diversity of people regardless of their level of capacity. Under Yuji Kuroiwa's leadership at the prefectural level, the concept of ME-BYO was included in the Japanese Government's "The Healthcare Policy," and the "ME-BYO Index" was developed which visualizes vital and cognitive functions numerically. The ME-BYO Index is provided free of charge as a smartphone application, and incorporates the ICOPE concept of screening the intrinsic capacity (the composite of all physical and mental capacities) of older people to better support the delivery of personalised, person-centred care.
Yuji Kuroiwa has been steadfast in advocating for healthy ageing through the "Healthcare New Frontier" policy of Kanagawa Prefecture. Seeing an ageing society as "a wonderful society where everyone can live long and healthy," he has proposed a vision for the future and works to realise it through the promotion of innovative policies and actions.