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Japanese welfare state has a non-typically conservative regime. Similar to other conservative countries, Japan has an occupational segmented social insurance system. The prewar Japan once adopted a Prussian-style social policy. And Japan borrow the pensions and health from the Prussian system. In addition, Japan’s welfare state embodies the familialism. As a result, the gender inequity is severe in Japan. Another drawback of a welfare state with the familialism is its lack of childcare social policy. In Japan, 65% elderly live with their children and each household usually consists of 3 generations. The difference between Japan’s welfare state and the traditional conservative system is the residual welfare state and the significantly low social transfer rate that Japan has. Japan also has comparatively low social spending: among the OCED countries in 1995, Japan has only 13.99% of its GDP used for the social expenditure, lower than 15.4% in the US, 20.4% in the UK,19,8% in Italy, 26.6% in Germany, 28.3% in France, and 32.5% in Sweden. Since Japan maintained a sustained economic growth after wartime and had an increasing equality, Japan was thought different from the European and North American model. And this difference was explained by a model of “Productivist Welfare Regime” in 2000. The model argued that the central economic policies conducted by the conservative Liberal Democratic Party in 1955-1993 caused the economic growth in postwar era. As the Productivist welfare regime only provided extended social welfare to those who linked to productive sectors in society on purpose to encourage the economic production, it provided the economic gain. And it also mentioned the Japanese Familiaism over its social care system that the Confucianism tradition in Japan relieved the social welfare stress from the government and undermined the gender welfare need in Japan. However, the thoery of “Productivist Welfare Regime” doesn’t hold. The social policy in 1960s and 1970s were made as a compensation for the failed industrial and economic policies. Only in 1980s and 1990s, the social policy became a platform of electoral strategies. And this happened after LDP lost its domination in the parliament in 1993. Also, the social welfare programs extended to areas that were not productive and to people like the elderly or disabled who were not productive. Finally, the Japanese government provided social care programs to the elderly and children, along with policy that promoted general equality. This contradicted the Confucianism’s explanation. Using the “Productivist Welfare Regime” to describe Japanese welfare system is not appropriate.

The earliest Japanese idea of welfare first appeared in 1874 during the Meiji Period when Mercy & Relief Regulation introduced a cash allowance exclusively to orphans under 13, to those who were unable to work due to illness, disabilities or old age and those who were under 15 or over 70 and lived in extreme poverty. In 1897, the Japan Social Policy Association was established and was modeled on the equivalent German association. The concern of social work increased in the Japanese government.In the 1920s, large companies, such as Kanegafuchi Spinning Company and Tokyo Spinning Company, adopted a company welfare system to provide occupational welfare while there's no any signals of trade union-based welfare systems. In 1929, the Poor Relief Act was passed to relieve the tensions between labor and capital. The Poor Relief Act recognized the obligation of state to support the poor with the national income. In 1938, after the Second Sino-Japanese War, the government officially established the Ministry of Health and Welfare. Japan adopted the familiaism as part of the welfare system to enhance the national cohesion. In 1947, the new Constitution came into effect. Article 25 recognized the right of all people to maintain the minimum standards of cultured living and it emphasized the obligation of the state to provide social welfare, social security and public health. Japanese government put this obligation into practice. During 1947 to 1970, the government legislated the Child Welfare Act (1947), the Physically Disabled Persons Welfare Act (1949), the Social Welfare Act (1951), the Act for the Welfare of the Mentally Retarded Persons (1960), the Act for the Welfare of the Aged (1963) and the Act on Welfare of Mothers with Dependents and Widows (1964). During 1970s and 1980s, Japan adopted a Japanese-style welfare society. Also In 1973, Prime Minister Tanaka Kakuei introduced the “Welfare Year One.” Because of the oil shock and large government spending in social policy, Japan suffered from the deficit and recession. The government tried to control the social expenditure by reforming the National Health Insurance and the public pension system. In 1990s, due to the severe aging society problem, the focus moved to social support to develop social service for childrearing and care for the elder and working women. In 2012, the government promoted a production-first policy, called “Abenomics” and redirected the attention from welfare and social protection to economic recovery.

Government Gender Policy

With the awakening of gender equality in Japan, the government have established different laws since 1986 to gradually promote women’s social status. In 1986, the Equal Employment Opportunity Law was approved and reduced the previously existent barrier for business women. In 1992, the Child Care Law granted one of the parents to gain up to one year partially paid leave for child caring. In 1994, the government gave the legal definition of a gender-equal society that men and women are equal members to participate in any field of society and both genders are equal in political, economic, social, and cultural benefits with shared responsibility. In 1997, the Nurse Care Insurance Law reduced the stress of women by splitting the cost of caring for the elderly in the whole society. In the same year, the Prime Minister Hashimoto Ryotaro recognized the gender equality social policy as a indispensable theme in a speech to the Council for Gender Equality. In 1998, the Law to Promote Specified Nonprofit Activities reduced the restrictions for non-profit feminine groups to acquire legal status. In 1999, the Basic Law for a Gender Equal society passed and the government started to draft the Basic Plan for a Gender-Equal Society, which is updated every five years. Though the gender equality policy is conducted, and in the aspect of education it is quite successful: women's college enrollment rate in Japan soared from 12 percent in 1980 to 32 percent in 2000, and 46 percent in 2012. The gender in equality still exists as that few women in the position of authority in Japan. Considering the fact that the Japanese welfare system has close relationship with companies, the gender inequality is still a problem to be worked on in Japan.