Introduction: “Aging in place” has always been the goal of the government to promote long-term care policies, of which the day service center is one of the most integral part supporting aging in place. However, the uniform activities and schedules designed by day service center should be reconsidered for their suitability. The purpose of this study is aimed to examine the differences of care model between “Unit Care” and “Yume-No-Mizuumi-Mura”. Method: The qualitative case study method was conducted to interview the stakeholders of the day service centers. Results & Conclusion: After observing four day service centers and depth interviewing 27 persons who related to the day ser-vice center, we find that although the elderly in the day center centers have needs such as safety care, the needs for autonomy and interpersonal interaction are seldom emphasized. When the day service center uses the “Yume-No-Mizuumi-Mura” model, people’s autonomy and interaction or meaning of life were better than the “Unit Care” model. Suggestion: Our results suggest that the day service centers have to provide a variety of choices to enhance autonomy, properly use existing venues to cultivate elderlies’ daily life skills and increase social participation, and rethink the meaning of unit care model.