A fresh look at the Japanese welfare state

The aims of this paper are: first, to review the two approaches-the regime and thp corporate-centred system approaches-commonly used to examine the Japanese welfare state, pointing out their strengths and limit in explaining welfare developments in Japan, particularly in recent years; and second, to examine recent development in Japanese welfare by focusing on a mb of social, demographic and economic factors which are contributing to the recent shifts. The Japanese welfare state is currently at a new turning point There has been some deliberate redesigning of the welfare system over the last decade, which has resulted in visible changes. However, , despite the apparent changes, the underlying thinking about social welfare in Japan remains largely unchanged: postwar Japanese social welfare developed in tandem with economic growth. Although the recent pattern of welfare expansion in the midst of the worsening economy, does appear to diverge from the pattern established since the end of ii, ld War II, it is in fact completely in keeping with the basic idea. A closer examination into factors such as the demographic ageing of the population, the increase in married women's labour market participation rate, the demand for low-wage flexible labour, and the restructuring of the economy in terms of more global competition and greater pressures for companies to cut costs, have together created conditions in which the established postwar model of family and corporate-centred welfare arrangements can no longer be effectively sustained. The outcome rr an expansion in public welfare and services as the state takes on a greater role and responsibility in providing and coordinating social welfare. This shift however, is not necessarily a sign that Japanese people have achieved greater citizenship rights as understood in some of the western welfare states; rather, it should be viewed as primarily a purposeful strategy aimed at facilitating economic growth. The current expansion in social welfare in Japan, therefore, can be seen as a state investment to help families and the corporate sector prepare and reorganize themselves for the new economic order.