The National Survey of the Japanese Elderly (NSJE): Wave 1, 1987
Investigators: University of Michigan Institute of Gerontology (IoG) and Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Gerontology (TMIG)

The National Survey of the Japanese Elderly (NSE): Wave 1, 1987, is the first wave of a longitudinal study conducted in Japan by the Institute of Gerontology at the University of Michigan (IoG) and the Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Gerontology (TMIG). This wave of the study was conducted in 1987, and collected data on a nationally representative sample of non-institutionalized Japanese aged 60 years and older. Subsequent Waves 2, 3, and 4 followed in 1990, 1993, and 1996 respectively. The original Wave 1 survey was designed to create a panel data set for use in cross-cultural analyses of aging in Japan and the United States.

The subsequent waves were created to match Wave 1 as closely as possible, while also allowing for growth in specific areas of interest. In addition, the surveys were designed to be partially comparable in content with Americans' Changing Lives: Waves 1, 2, 3, and 4, 1986, 1989, 1993, and 1996 and the National Health Interview Survey, 1984: Supplement on Aging. The survey has nine sections: demographics (age, gender, marital status, education, employment), social integration (interpersonal contacts, social supports), health status (limitations on daily life and activities, health conditions, level of physical activity), subjective well-being and mental health status (life satisfaction, morale), psychological indicators (life events, locus of control, self-esteem), financial situation (financial status), memory (measures of cognitive functioning), and interviewer observations (assessments of respondents).

Sociometrics has archived the NSJE Waves 1 through 4 data as part of its Data Archive of Social Research on Aging. This user's guide contains detailed information about 419 variables administered to 2,200 respondents for the NSJE Wave 1 study.