Japan's economy is headed for its longest post-war expansion but away from the thronging shopping malls, new skyscrapers and luxury condominiums, many elderly and unemployed complain of losing out.
Kurumada, 72, who declined to give his first name, says he can only afford two meals a day with his welfare payment of ?96,000 (US$870) per month from the government, which also subsidizes his rent.
"I feel I just survive. I don't feel I'm living a life," said the former blue-collar worker, who began receiving benefits four years ago after heart disease forced him to give up his job fixing electric equipment.
PHOTO: EPA
Before he earned up to ?5 million, or about US$45,000, a year.
"Now I can't afford three meals a day," he said with rueful smile in his small one-room apartment in Arakawa ward in the old area of Tokyo.
Elsewhere in the capital, 71-year-old Kimiko Kimura has to make do with no bath or shower.
"There is no room equipped with a bath available at a cheap enough rent in Tokyo," said Kimura, who ran a small polystyrene business north of the city until her husband's death.
These are not extraordinary cases in Japan, which has prided itself since the end of World War II on being a classless society. Even today people in need are often reluctant to ask for help.
"In Japan, poor people hide. Those who live on social security don't talk about it because they think they are responsible for their own misfortune," said Kazuya Hata, a charity worker at The Group to Protect Living and Health.
Homelessness, which was largely unknown in Japan until the economic bubble burst in the early 1990s, has also risen and many parks are dotted with the blue tarpaulins of their makeshift shelters.
Japan's economy may be finally emerging from the `lost decade' of deflation but it is still expected to have more than one million households on welfare on average in the year to March, according to the most recent government survey.
This is about 2 percent of the total number of households in Japan and a 60 percent jump from 10 years ago, according to the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Labor.
While the increase is largely due to the aging population, the total number of working-age people on welfare, including disability and other benefits, has also gone up.
Almost 20 percent of the Japanese population is now aged 65 or older.
This ratio, already at a record high, will only increase as post-war baby boomers approach retirement age, while the falling birthrate is set to put increasing strains on the public finances.
While some struggle to scrape by, those with cash to burn head for ultra-chic shopping complexes in Tokyo with jaw-dropping prices, such as Roppongi Hills and its new sister mall Omotesando Hills.
Social inequalities may still be less pronounced in Japan than many other countries but there is increasing public concern about the emergence of the "haves" and the "have-nots" -- and the rising number of Japanese millionaires.
For many Japanese the unsavory side of the country's new style of capitalism was embodied by the fall from grace of Takafumi Horie, the high-flying founder of the Livedoor Internet firm now indicted for fraud.
A poll in March by the Yomiuri newspaper found that some 81 percent of Japanese people think the income gap is widening and many blame Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's reforms as he seeks to slim down the government.
According to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Japan's gini coefficient, a leading measure of inequality, stood at 0.314 in 2004, worse than Germany, France and Scandinavian nations but better than the US and Britain.
In 1969 Japan's gini coefficient was 0.316, above France's 0.414 at around the same time, where zero corresponds to perfect equality and 1.0 to perfect inequality.
On the face of it Japan's economy is in the best shape for a long time with the unemployment rate is at a seven-year low of 4.1 percent.
The number of people receiving jobless benefits declined to 628,000 in the fiscal year to March this year from 1.1 million four years earlier, out of a total population of about 127 million, according to government statistics.
However, not everyone is benefiting from falling unemployment, said Takuro Morinaga, an economics professor at Dokkyo University near Tokyo.
"Many specialists say the income gap has been rapidly widening," he said, noting that under Koizumi's reforms it has become easier for manufacturing companies to hire temporary workers.
"This means that many workers who used to be protected by the law can suddenly be fired, even though they are on lower incomes," Morinaga added.
LONG FLIGHT: The jets would be flown by US pilots, with Taiwanese copilots in the two-seat F-16D variant to help familiarize them with the aircraft, the source said The US is expected to fly 10 Lockheed Martin F-16C/D Block 70/72 jets to Taiwan over the coming months to fulfill a long-awaited order of 66 aircraft, a defense official said yesterday. Word that the first batch of the jets would be delivered soon was welcome news to Taiwan, which has become concerned about delays in the delivery of US arms amid rising military tensions with China. Speaking on condition of anonymity, the official said the initial tranche of the nation’s F-16s are rolling off assembly lines in the US and would be flown under their own power to Taiwan by way
OBJECTS AT SEA: Satellites with synthetic-aperture radar could aid in the detection of small Chinese boats attempting to illegally enter Taiwan, the space agency head said Taiwan aims to send the nation’s first low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite into space in 2027, while the first Formosat-8 and Formosat-9 spacecraft are to be launched in October and 2028 respectively, the National Science and Technology Council said yesterday. The council laid out its space development plan in a report reviewed by members of the legislature’s Education and Culture Committee. Six LEO satellites would be produced in the initial phase, with the first one, the B5G-1A, scheduled to be launched in 2027, the council said in the report. Regarding the second satellite, the B5G-1B, the government plans to work with private contractors
‘NARWHAL’: The indigenous submarine completed its harbor acceptance test recently and is now under heavy guard as it undergoes tests in open waters, a source said The Hai Kun (海鯤), the nation’s first indigenous defense submarine, yesterday began sea trials, sailing out of the Port of Kaohsiung, a military source said. Also known as the “Narwhal,” the vessel departed from CSBC Corp, Taiwan’s (台灣國際造船) shipyard at about 8am, where it had been docked. More than 10 technicians and military personnel were on deck, with several others standing atop the sail. After recently completing its harbor acceptance test, the vessel has started a series of sea-based trials, including tests of its propulsion and navigational systems, while partially surfaced, the source said. The Hai Kun underwent tests in the port from
MISSION: The Indo-Pacific region is ‘the priority theater,’ where the task of deterrence extends across the entire region, including Taiwan, the US Pacific Fleet commander said The US Navy’s “mission of deterrence” in the Indo-Pacific theater applies to Taiwan, Pacific Fleet Commander Admiral Stephen Koehler told the South China Sea Conference on Tuesday. The conference, organized by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), is an international platform for senior officials and experts from countries with security interests in the region. “The Pacific Fleet’s mission is to deter aggression across the Western Pacific, together with our allies and partners, and to prevail in combat if necessary, Koehler said in the event’s keynote speech. “That mission of deterrence applies regionwide — including the South China Sea and Taiwan,” he
RSS