Who is allowed to practice medicine? This question recurred in different forms throughout Japan's modern era, reflecting fundamental changes in how people provided and received medical care. This article explores one key issue that underlined this question: a persistent doctor shortage, whose causes and form changed over time—from the late wartime era, through the immediate postwar rehabilitation years, to the era of rapid economic growth. Rather than focusing on issues of policy, the article examines personal histories, revealing how shortages led to various doctor substitutes, some legitimate and some not, in a process whereby doctor care came to be seen as a basic right.

This paper investigates the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the process of regional welfare-making in the Aso region (Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan). It demonstrates how local stakeholders such as social welfare councils have been promoting the ideal of community-based regional welfare, while adapting to the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. As the pandemic hindered social exchange and amplified longstanding processes of community decline, it further complicates the ongoing challenge of activating local communities to realize the vision of a healthy “aging in place” based on mutual support.