The Plan to Build a Society in Which All 100 Million People Play an Active Role, propagated by Abe Government since 2015, can be termed a “liberal” labor and social policy with elements of pro-labor initiatives. Of course, the results can only be known in the future after several years of implementation of the new measures. In the meantime, observers are presenting a wide range of speculations as to whether or not the policy package will fundamentally change the employment system and labor market. Scholars will need to begin preparing evaluation studies that clarify the basis for the ongoing speculations. I contend that it is important to maintain a comprehensive view of the Japanese labor market, envisaging it as composed of various groups of workers, not just those who work for large corporations. Another point the author seeks to examine here is whether the Plan can play a key role in leading the entire economic policy agenda of the Abe Government by checking recent trends in public investments and public financing for balancing regional tax base differences. It seems that the actual policies implemented through public investment have followed typical “old populist” patterns. For example, the Government allows investment to build new Shinkansen lines that will never be economical but will please political constituents of LDP including construction industry. The Government also has undertaken a new policy that allows local governments to attract donations that bring tax exemptions by offering expensive “presents,” a policy that can be termed “neo-populist”. Thus the economic policies of the Government cannot be termed neither liberal nor neo-liberal but can be called ‘neo-populist’ overall.

“Dynamic Engagement of All Citizens” （hereafter, Engagement） is an attempt to promote economic growth by utilizing various types of social policies. This paper examines the possibilities and limitations of Engagement, focusing not only on social justice but also on economic efficiency. Most importantly, it investigates whether or not Engagement can overcome the problems inherent in Japan’s status-based employment system. The results of the examination are as follows. Engagement is characterized by an emphasis on the quantity rather than the quality of labor, government intervention into the autonomy of industrial relations, and an emphasis on the treatment of non-regular workers rather than the regulation of employment types. Engagement is currently in progress and cannot be fully evaluated. However, an examination of three important factors makes clear its limitations : the route of Engagement’s “Distribution → Productivity → Growth” model is obscure ; the status quo of the unequal employment types will be maintained ; and the Equal Pay for Equal Work proposal does not appear to be feasible. In sum, if we are to find success in encouraging large numbers of people to begin leading active work lives, it is necessary to eliminate status-based discrimination and to achieve a “single status” for all workers.

Since the start of the second Abe Cabinet, which has emphasized economic growth strategies, the term “utilization of foreign human resources” has been frequently invoked, and it features prominently in the “Society to Promote Active Participation of All Japan 100 Million Citizens.” However, the scheme includes no proposal to advance the “active participation of foreign nationals.” This paper, from the standpoint of inequality, examines the restrictions that make it impossible for foreigners to “participate actively” in Japanese society. One problem is the inequality of residential status. Depending on status, there are “inconvenient” foreign workers who face limitations regarding jobs, hours of labor, or length of stay in Japan. Moreover, unresolved discrimination in employment practices, which constitutes substantive （de facto） inequality prevents foreign workers from achieving their potential, resulting in socioeconomic inequality （disparity）. In addition, foreign children face institutional （de jure） inequality in education and in Japanese schools. Some of them experience “failure” in their educational lives and are forced to enter the labor market at a young age and without adequate resources. As a result, the disparity in the labor market that pervade the parental generation are reproduced, and second-generation foreign nationals are deprived of opportunities to achieve “active participation” in Japanese society.

The Japanese government has introduced a set of labor reform bills, dubbed “Work Style Reform”, as one of the pillars of “Japan’s Plan for Dynamic Engagement of All Citizens”. While there are various problems concerning this plan, as put forth by the Abe administration, this report will focus on its effect on the current employment conditions of taxi workers and the problems they face by examining two factors, “labor conditions” and “deregulation.” The new limits placed on overtime work by the government’s labor reforms do not apply to vehicle workers, including taxi drivers. Furthermore, labor problems continue to mount. Multiple lawsuits have been filed over wage regulations and other employment problems in the industry. Despite the fact that taxi companies are subject to a multitude of regulations, the government’s deregulation initiatives since the 1990s have led to a decline in the income of taxi drivers due to severe competition facing the industry. Today, the rapid spread of “ride-sharing” services, which furthers the wave of deregulation that has occurred over the last couple of decades, poses a new threat to the industry. This report will assess how working conditions may change in the face of “Japan’s Plan for Dynamic Engagement of All Citizens” and explore possible solutions to combat emerging problems.

The Abe government’s policies for labour market deregulation and human resource mobilisation feature no concern for the role of trade union as representatives of the workers. Academics as well have little attention to the long-standing decline of Japan’s trade unions. Therefore, this paper explores and summarises the changing contours and current state of Japan’s trade union organisation and activity of the different sector workers, namely, core workers in the large private firms, workers in small and medium-sized enterprises, civil servants in national and local government, professionals and licensed workers, and non-regular workers. The second half of the paper explains the structural and long-term problems and major challenges of reform facing the unions in each sector. It also suggests appropriate measures to regulate employment relations from the perspectives of workplace, industry and local community. Finally, the author advocates that an ‘organic solidarity’ among the workers of diverse strata should be established.

This paper uses independence theory to conduct a historical and social analysis of the Public Assistance system. With regard to Public Assistance, independence theory reflects the understandings of poverty and social welfare of any given era, and is therefore valuable as a tool for clarifying the nature of the problems that afflict modern society. The concept of “support” in independence theory has been utilized by the public assistance administration to promote self-reliance and, historically, it has also been used to suppress borderline applicants （clients） in advancing a policy of so-called “optimization”.

On the other hand, the policy trend of “autonomy” in independence theory has been developed through practice in public assistance offices, where it has been used historically to provide support for applicants （clients） seeking to enrich their lives. This practice clearly conflicts with the ‘optimization’ policy. One good example is the “Edogawa Study Group for Third Year Junior High School Students”, which provided support for junior high school students who were striving to pass senior high school entrance exams. Therefore, conflict has been created because the national government and the actual policy practitioners have had different goals and directions with regard to independence theory. This structural gap between concept and practice is examined from the viewpoint of the applicants （clients）, that is, the people, who make use of the public assistance system.

“The three types of self-reliance” refers to financial and social self-reliance, and self-reliance in daily life. The “self-support program for public assistance” has been implemented in welfare offices since 2005, with a proposal by the policy deliberation council on public assistance serving as the starting point. The proposal included the three types of self-reliance and three types of self-support. It is said that “the three types of self-reliance” have changed the traditional idea that “self-reliance=leaving welfare,” creating a major influence on the public assistance system, policymaking, and casework. In this paper, I begin by reviewing the three types of self-reliance, especially relying on disability studies, and discuss the casework related to the introduction of self-support systems into the public assistance system. Second, I review proposals regarding “the tendency toward expanding self-reliance” by three persons who had pressed the case for self-reliance in welfare studies before the establishment of the expert councils. Finally, I discuss alternatives, including provision of assistance without self-reliance, in the welfare system.

This report investigates systems that provide support to maintain the independence or self-sufficiency of low-income single-mother families. It pays special attention to the provision of support for employment and for securing childcare for families receiving public assistance as well as for those not receiving such assistance. An important objective of the paper is to describe clearly the distinctive situations regarding employment and childcare support for women leading single-mother families. Which families receive this support ? If they do receive support, what kind of assistance is it ? We identify four mutually related pillars of support for family independence, with childcare support and public assistance being especially important.

A precondition for independence is not just employment support but also easing of the childcare burden. Once the foundation for livelihood security, including reliable childcare, is established, the next step in assuring a proper livelihood is receiving assistance in gaining qualifications necessary to advance one’s career.

It is important to recognize that it is difficult for mothers to make long-term career plans unless they are able to ensure basic livelihood needs for themselves and their children. In this regard, it is also essential to maintain crucial social support functions such as the provision of consultation services oriented to family needs.

In this paper, we use written documents and oral histories to analyze the discourse on the wage system that took place immediately after the human rights strike at Omi Kenshi Spinning Company in 1954. The Omi Kenshi strike serves here as a representative Japanese dispute of the 1950s. Our analysis of the formation of this discourse confirms that the labor union had proposed a gender-biased “family wages” system based on assumptions regarding gender roles as understood in the 1950s. More concretely, there was a proposal to impose gendered differences in the determination of living wages. However, this proposal triggered an intense debate within the union, and ultimately led to the establishment of a wage system without gender bias. An underlying issue impacting the discourse on gender differences in the labor union, which emerged victorious in the human rights strike, was tension between prevailing ideologies of romantic love and the realities facing women who would later return to working communally in a rural agriculture-based society.

This paper examines the evolution of the Self-reliance Support for Poor and Needy Persons’ policy. The policy was first implemented in 2015 with the aim of preventing people from falling into poverty by providing personalised consultation and job-training services. In contrast to previous studies that evaluate work integration programmes from a functional perspective, this paper views welfare policy as a symbolic representation of dominant social norms relating to work, family, and welfare. In tracing the status of the elderly poor in relation to the self-reliance support programme, this paper argues that the programme’s evolution stands as a symbol of the decline of work protection and family support as sources of welfare on the one hand, and the role of local communities in cultivating individuals who can cope with individualised risks throughout their life-course on the other. The paper concludes by presenting two possible implications of the new welfare settlement.

This study provides insights on policies for the reduction of child poverty based on an analysis of the impact of rental costs on children’s well-being among relatively low-income households. The data was taken from the 2016 “Tokyo Children’s Livelihood Survey,” which sampled 1435 rent-paying households and targeted families with children in the 5th, 8th, and 11th grades. The three variables of income, floor size of housing, and rent-to-income ratios were grouped into eleven different combinations, and were then analyzed through logistics regression and tobit regression. The following results were deduced from this study. Among households with annual incomes between 2.14 and 3.59 million yen, those living in “small” housing （with little space） but high rent tend to sacrifice basic needs for children, including education-related items. Households that have annual incomes lower than 3.59 million yen and live in non-small housing with high rent tend to be the ‘invisible poor.’ Households with annual incomes lower than 3.59 million yen and low rent forego spending for children even though they receive a sort of rent remission. To resolve this problem, government needs to establish policies to expand the current housing and other benefit programs, especially to provide appropriately-sized housing for families that are eligible to receive housing benefits.