Skip to main content
Back to guides
Guide

When you are worried about memory loss

Noticing that something is wrong is one thing; getting the person to a doctor is another. Kawasaki City runs a service in which specialists visit the home, even before any diagnosis. Advice on the phone lines listed here is free.

This page helps you choose where to go for advice. It does not assess whether anyone has dementia.

If an online checklist says "nothing to worry about" but you are still worried, ask anyway — not being sure is exactly when advice helps. Memory loss can have causes that surgery or medication can treat. See Understanding dementia.

When the person refuses to see a doctor

This is the most common place families get stuck. Kawasaki runs a Dementia Home Visit Support service (認知症訪問支援事業), and it does not require a diagnosis.

  • For residents aged 40 or over who may have dementia
  • Including people with no diagnosis, and people receiving no medical or care services
  • Doctors, nurses, care managers and support-centre staff visit the home and connect the person with medical and care services before symptoms worsen

Contact the Elderly and Disability Division of the Community Support Centre (地域みまもり支援センター 高齢・障害課) at your ward office.

WardPhone
Kawasaki044-201-3080
Saiwai044-556-6619
Nakahara044-744-3217
Takatsu044-861-3255
Miyamae044-856-3242
Tama044-935-3266
Asao044-965-5148

These are different numbers from the care-certification desk, even though it is the same section.

When you just want someone to talk to

The Dementia Call Centre “Support Hotto” (サポートほっと) is staffed by people who have cared for someone with dementia, as well as social workers. The person, family members and friends can all call. Advice is free (call charges apply). Conversations are in Japanese.

Phone044-932-0341
Hours10:00–16:00
DaysMon, Tue, Thu, Fri (closed Wed and Sat)
Sundays: 1st and 3rd only
2nd and 4th Thursdays: until 20:00
SpecialistA specialist doctor takes calls on the 4th Tuesday morning (by appointment)

When you want specialist medical advice by phone

Kawasaki has four Dementia Medical Centres (認知症疾患医療センター). Advice is free (call charges apply). They advise people with dementia and their families, and handle differential diagnosis — working out which kind of dementia it is, or whether it is something else — and hospital admission. Call them directly.

CentreWardPhone
Kawasaki Municipal HospitalKawasaki044-233-5521
Nippon Medical School Musashi Kosugi HospitalNakahara044-733-2007
St. Marianna University HospitalMiyamae044-977-6467
Kawasaki Memorial HospitalMiyamae044-977-3100

When you want to talk about care as well

A Community Comprehensive Support Centre handles care, welfare and medical questions together, including dementia, and you do not need a care certification to use it. Which centre serves you depends on your address.

Find the centre for your address

What family members can do at the appointment

  • Go along if you can. The person often cannot describe what has been happening, and what the family reports becomes part of the diagnosis
  • Write down when it started and what you have noticed
  • Bring something that lists current medication (an おくすり手帳 medication notebook, for example)

Starting with the family doctor is also a good route; they can refer you to a specialist.

About memory screening

Yokohama offers free memory screening for residents aged 50 and over. We could not find an equivalent screening on Kawasaki City's dementia pages (checked 28 September 2026). In Kawasaki, the way in is one of the desks above, or the family doctor.

Find your support centre Official page (Japanese)

Source: Kawasaki City · Last verified 2026-09-28. Rules change. Check the source page before you act on this. This is a plain-English summary of public information, not an official translation.

Other guides

Applying for a care-level certification in Kawasaki To use long-term care insurance in Kawasaki City you first need a care-level certification. Here are the three ways to apply, the documents you need, how long a decision takes, and what happens next. Applying is free. Read
Surrendering a driving licence, and getting about after Voluntary surrender is formally an application to cancel, and the police handle it, not the ward office. Where to go, what to bring, why the driving history certificate matters, what Kawasaki offers for getting about, and why putting the car in a distant child's name is harder than it looks. Read
When managing money and contracts becomes difficult Two schemes cover this. Daily-living support costs 2,500 yen a month and the ward Anshin Centre does the work, but it can only be used while the person can still sign a contract. After that comes adult guardianship. There is an order to it, and no way back. Read
Caring without leaving your job Family care leave runs to 93 days per relative and can be split into three periods, paid at 67% of wages by employment insurance. Family care days are five a year and can be taken by the hour. Since April 2025 employers must explain this individually. The 93 days are for building an arrangement, not for doing the caring yourself. Read
Where the last days are spent The belief that dying at home means a police investigation is a misunderstanding: if the attending doctor can attribute the death to the illness they were treating, they issue the certificate. What a home arrangement needs, why a decision can be changed, and why to talk about it early. Read
How to apply for a special nursing home (tokuyo) in Kawasaki In Kawasaki City you do not apply to the ward office or to each home. All applications go to one association, you may name up to five homes, and admission is decided by assessed need rather than by the order of application. Read
Short stays, so the family can rest Short stays are not only for the person being cared for. The ministry states they exist to reduce the burden on the family, and lists a carer’s illness, family occasions and business trips as reasons to use them. Up to 30 consecutive days, counted inside the monthly ceiling. Read
How the premiums work, and what arrears cost you Everyone pays from the age of 40. At 65 it stops coming out with the health premium and becomes a separate bill from the city, which is where arrears begin. One year and you pay up front and claim back; eighteen months and refunds stop; two years and your own share rises to 30 or 40 percent, with no way to settle the debt. Read
What has to be done afterwards It looks like a lot, but the order is fixed and only the first part is urgent. The death certificate, registration within seven days, the cremation permit, one visit to the ward office, and returning the insurance card within fourteen days. Inheritance is left to the professionals. Read
In hospital, and worried about care after discharge A stroke, a fracture or cancer often leads to a need for care after a hospital stay. What you can do while still in hospital, when to apply for a care-level certification, and how services can start before the result arrives. Read
Types of residential care, and how to choose Special nursing homes, geriatric health facilities, group homes and fee-based homes. Four names that are hard to tell apart, set side by side by who they take, what they are for, how long a stay lasts and where to apply — with what the monthly bill is actually made of. Read
What a Community Comprehensive Support Centre does A Community Comprehensive Support Centre is a public consultation desk commissioned by Kawasaki City. There are 49 of them, each covering specific towns, and using one costs nothing. Read
Not carrying it alone The most common way care goes wrong is that one person carries it alone and gives out first. Anonymous phone lines, dementia cafes and carers’ gatherings, and short stays for resting. All free, or covered by the insurance. Read
Schemes that reduce what you pay for care in Kawasaki If your share of the care costs goes over a monthly ceiling, the excess is refunded. Meals and accommodation in a care facility can be reduced too. Kawasaki has several of these schemes, and most are applied for at the ward office. Read
The monthly ceiling on home-care services Home-based care under the insurance has a monthly ceiling set by care level. The ceiling is defined in service units, not yen, and what a unit is worth depends on the city. Kawasaki City is in grade 2, so the real ceiling is higher than the 10-yen-a-unit figure most sites quote. Read
Home modifications under long-term care insurance in Kawasaki Handrails and removing steps are covered up to 200,000 yen, and Support Levels qualify too. But nothing is paid unless you file before the work starts. In Kawasaki you file with the Benefits desk of the ward office — not the certification desk you used before. Read
Renting and buying assistive equipment Wheelchairs, care beds, handrails, walking frames. The insurance rents rather than sells, except for bathing and toilet aids, which you buy and claim back. Which route applies is set by the item — you get a choice on four of them. At Support Levels 1–2 and Care Level 1, care beds, wheelchairs and some other items are not covered as a rule. Read