Overview of the Japanese Mental Health System

In the past decade, the Japanese government has instituted numerous mental health policies and laws relevant to mental health. This mental health system reform is aimed at deinstitutionalization and the improvement of community mental health, as Japan has one of the highest numbers of psychiatric beds per capita in the world, with 345,696 psychiatric beds in 2008. This article describes the current situation of mental health services, the mental health system reform process and its achievements, and the future challenges.Japan's reform of its mental health system toward community mental health was initiated by the 2002 report, Future Direction of Mental Health and Welfare Policy, which was succeeded by many laws, policies, and regulation changes. The main achievements thus far include clearly setting the direction of mental health service toward a more community-oriented system, mainstreaming of people with mental disorders, and increasing funding for the community mental health services. The reform efforts are beginning to show results: inpatient numbers are decreasing as community resources steadily increase. However, many challenges still remain. The process of mental health system reform takes time, and further reform is necessary.