In June of 1990, the Japanese government revised eight social welfare related laws to improve the Law for the Welfare of the Aged and the Social Welfare Service Law. Thus the government has established a new system of social welfare toward the 21st century, though many problems remain unresolved. The most basic problem is that the kind of welfare society which should correspond to a welfare state has yet to develop in Japan. Accordingly, the concept of social welfare is extremely dwarfed, and exists almost exclusively within the limits of the social welfare administration of the national government. With few exceptions, the principle of social welfare has hardly been established in practice. To address these issues, I propose the following reforms: Reorganization of the Councils of Social Welfare and Community Chest to decentralize the focus of social action away from government control toward a more community-centered, grass-roots approach. Establishment of a new system of social welfare in the local self governing bodies. Reconsideration of the overall assessment and disposition of individuals in the social welfare system. Active development of new projects by way of experiment. Formation by residents of an integrated system of community welfare which will serve as a base for the local planning of health and welfare. Establishment of a flexible system of case-management supervision. Reforms in the management of Social Welfare Juridical Persons and voluntary institutions to make them more community oriented.

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This thesis aims to present a positive viewpoint ("manazashi") for people who are mentally or physically functionally limited and therefore who have disadvantages in many aspects of their lives. It also aims to lead to actualizing a truly fruitful social work practice. To do that, this thesis first surveys the history of social work care for people under those conditions (referred to in the thesis as "handicapped persons"). Second, this thesis argues, based upon the literature, that the word Shogaisha is inappropriate. It critically argues that the situation in which handicapped persons have been considered to have a "minus existence" is historically situated by the viewpoint ("manazashi") of the principle of productive ability. Finally, this thesis presents what kind of viewpoint ("manazashi") the society would need to consider a handicapped existence as a "plus existence". Additionally, although the word viewpoint ("manazashi"), which is used in this thesis, could be expressed as "thinking, emotions, spirit, sense, perspective, standpoint, recognition, thought, etc.," it is used to express a special nuance characterized by the expression "an excellent counselor knows a client by listening with his eyes and seeing with his ears." In the field of counseling, this is one of the important qualities a counselor should possess.

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This is a study of social welfare services in the age of Occupied Japan. As it is known, those studies were mainly focused on the connection between the Welfare Department and the Public Health and Welfare Department. It is, however, the author's opinion that those studies did not point out the issue of people in need. So, I have used this approach to make up the lack. The approach is a reading of pettions for GHQ, by the Japanese people. Using this approach, I have described the state of some people who fuel into poverty.

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