Although considerable research has been conducted on service awareness among older adults in the United States and Canada, little data are available on service awareness among elderly in other nations. This study examined service awareness among 474 randomly selected elders in Japan. Awareness of four services mandated under the newly implemented Gold Plan was examined. The majority of elders were aware of in-home support services, whereas only half were aware of day care and respite services. Although close-kin networks have been found to inhibit service awareness among elders in the United States, logistic regression analysis revealed that gender and social support networks were the strongest predictor of overall service awareness among Japanese participants. Cultural implications of the findings are discussed.
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