*A recommendation written in English is published on October 6, 2025.

The Mental Health Project of Health and Global Policy Institute (HGPI) has published the policy recommendation “Recommendations for three issues in the area of mental health.”

Mental health issues have a major impact on contemporary society, regardless of country or region. The number of patients with mental disorders in Japan is on the rise, approximately 6,148,000 people in 2020 were suffering with mental illness. This number is the highest among the so-called five major diseases (cancer, stroke, acute myocardial infarction, diabetes, and mental disorders). In particular, according to the latest hospital report for 2021, the average length of stay in psychiatric beds amounts to approximately 275.1 days, which is longer than the 16.1 days for general beds, and this is unique in Japan compared to other countries and has long been pointed out as an area for improvement in Japan.

Therefore, it is expected that in the area of mental health in Japan, multi-stakeholder cooperation and repeated efforts towards improvement are made with the aim of improving the quality of life (QOL) of patients and parties involved, by attending to their perspectives and voices. On the other hand, in the field of mental health, it is often difficult for people with lived experience of mental illness to raise their own voices due to the nature of the illness, and a strong stigma regarding mental illness still exists in society. Thus, major improvements have yet to be made and are warranted.

To address this situation, drawing on our past activities and the formulation of recommendations and policy trends, we have established a forum for discussion on the following three issues in the field of mental health, compiling them into a set of recommendations.

• Foster innovation in medical research towards the realization of personalized medicine.
• Reform of the healthcare delivery system by incorporating mental health care into the new regional healthcare concept.
• Promoting the employment of peer supporters to expand local consultation and support systems.

For more detailed information, see the PDF at the bottom of the page.