Introduction

Japanese welfare has increasingly attracted the interest of western scholars, yet they “have approached this topic mainly in brief overview chapters, or as an example within some broader interpretation of postwar public policy” (Campbell, 1992, p 22). In general, as Goodman and Peng (1996, p 193) suggest, Japan is regarded as “a variety of preexisting social welfare models conceptualised from a western framework” and is sometimes seen as “an ‘exception’ to the rule rather than as a new pattern”.

The relatively inferior standard of Japanese welfare services has often been described in recent studies of welfare states; yet many of them have overlooked some of the distinctive aspects of Japanese welfare development. This chapter will highlight the special features of Japanese welfare production and its background factors, such as rapid economic development and the traditional values deeply embedded in its social system. Beginning with an examination of the welfare regime in Japan, it will show that industrialisation, as a causal factor behind Japanese welfare development, has different implications than those assumed by conventional industrialisation theory. It will also explore the relationship between culture and political ideology, particularly the political utilisation of culture.

Japanese-type welfare society

Emergence of the ‘Japanese-type welfare society’

In terms of economic development, Japan achieved tremendous success over the post-war period and became the country with the second largest Gross National Product (GNP) in the world. In striking contrast to its economic eminence, Japan's achievements in the field of welfare development are poor. Comparative studies of the welfare state normally describe Japan's status as ‘residual’. For example, Hill (1996) regards it as “a low performing welfare state”. Table 6.1 substantiates this. Apart from its residual nature, the Japanese welfare system may be characterised by:

• 1. active informal welfare practices;

• 2. high economic performance substituting for state welfare;

• 3. a status-segregated, social insurance system;

• 4. occupational welfare for ‘core’ workers;

• 5. low spending on personal social services (Bryson, 1992; Esping-Andersen, 1996a, 1996b, 1997; Goodman and Peng, 1996; Hill, 1996; Jacobs, 1998).

These characteristics of the Japanese welfare system were formulated in accordance with the concept of the ‘Japanese-type welfare society’ in the first half of the 1970s.