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The puzzle of Japans welfare capitalism: a review of the welfare regimes approach

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 April 2020

Martin Powell ,
Ki-tae Kim  and
Sung-won Kim
Martin Powell*
Affiliation:
Health Services Management Centre, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK
Ki-tae Kim
Affiliation:
Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs, Yeongi-gun, Korea
Sung-won Kim
Affiliation:
Graduate School of Humanities and Sociology, University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
*
CONTACTMartin Powell m.powell@bham.ac.uk
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Abstract

There has been little consensus on Japans welfare regime since Esping-Andersens [1990. The Three Worlds of Welfare Capitalism. Cambridge: Polity Press] unclear categorisation of Japan as his only non-Western welfare state. This article is the first attempt to analyse academic research published in both English and Japanese. It presents a review of 40 collected studies (including 15 Western, 6 Asian and 19 Japanese articles), reached a wide variety of conclusions, defining Japan as eight different types: We point out that while the majority of Western studies tend to run statistical models including Japan among otherwise Western welfare states with little theoretical justification, Japanese scholars tend to focus on Japan as a single case. The two very different approaches may have something to learn from each other, as in thesis antithesis synthesis. Now that we are aware of very different approaches to and conclusions about Japans welfare regime, the topic appears ripe for greater co-operation between scholars.

Keywords

Japanwelfare regimereviewEast Asian welfare modelclassificationEurocentric research
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of International and Comparative Social Policy , Volume 36 , Issue 1 , March 2020 , pp. 92 - 110
Copyright
© 2019 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group

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