Eas205 lecture 7 2015 16

1
EAS205AutumnSemester　2013-2014
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AIM
• To examine the different ways of
conceptualizing the ‘quality of life
(QoL)’, and
• To assess the QoL of Japanese people
in a historical and to a certain extent
comparative context.

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Objectives:
1) To introduce different approaches in
defining ‘QoL’,
2) To evaluate in what ways Japanese people
can be regarded as having a ‘good’ or
‘bad’ QoL in a historical context,
3) To evaluate in what ways Japanese people
can be regarded as having a ‘good’ or
‘bad’ QoL in a comparative context, and
4) To look at a new phenomenon of an
emerging division in the middle class.

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Introduction
Objective & subjective ways for
assessing the quality of life.
From “economic power” to a
“lifestyle superpower”

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Objective indices and
Subjective interpretation
• Objective measures of the QoL
• collected in terms of indices:
longevity, per capita GDP, how the wealth in a society
is distributed, material possessions and their
distribution (car, home appliances, TV sets, etc…)
• However, some statistics include subjective
judgments, e.g.,:
having a high per capita GDP gives a higher QoL
consumer goods improve your QoL, and so on.
Material possessions interpreted as QoL
based on a faith in

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Subjective evaluation
• May include what kind of life is enjoyed:
Is just being alive an adequate measure?
Should we include the way life is lived?
In old age: nursing care rather than physicians, family
support rather than being isolated.
• In all societies, wealth is distributed unequally.
QoL has a social-QoL has a social-
interpersonalinterpersonal
dimension.dimension.
Is there any measure of evaluation if suffering of others
in society affects one’s QoL?
Does the North/South disparities, famine and despair in
a developing world reduce QoL in the developed world?

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Absolute vs. relative QoL
• Certainly, an absolute increase in longevity can be
used as an objective measure:
The longer you live, at least the greater opportunity there is
for a quality life.
Yet, if everyone else is living longer, there is no relative
potential increase in your QoL.
Or, if having an automobile would increase your QoL, if
everyone else possesses a car, does your relative QoL only
increase if you have a better car, or two cars?
These involve philosophical and moral issues, beyond the
scope of a discussion here – but should be borne in mind.

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PM Miyazawa’s scheme
• PM Kiichi Miyazawa’s a policy speech on the issue
of QoL @ an extraordinary session of the Diet on 8
November 1991 :
Desire to make Japan into:
a ‘nation of quality’ (hinhaku aru kuni), and
a ‘lifestyle superpower’ (seikatsu taikoku).
The goal was to create:
A vibrant, well-rounded country whose standard of living
is such that it can truly be called “developed”.
This, not only in a material sense (high levels of income,
etc) but also in terms of the rich QoL enjoyed by people
through its abundant social capital and aesthetic beauty.

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PM Kiichi MIYAZAWA
With PM Ikeda
At the diet in his PM years

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Miyazawa’s view
1. At least in terms of the material aspects of life,
Japan was a developed country by the beginning of
the 1990s.
2. In other words, it had a high standard of living in
terms of per capita GDP.
3. Despite the material wellbeing, people did not enjoy
a high QoL in terms of social capital.
4. Economic growth had been placed on making the
country rich rather than improving the lives of
ordinary Japanese.
5. This had led to the economic bubble, with rapid and
unsustainable increase in asset prices.

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Citizen’s QoL and the State
• PM Miyazawa’s plan shows a view that:
• The state is meant to play a role in the leisure
life of Japanese people
• Suggests how the state intervenes directly in
the QoL of the people, even down to their
leisure activities and aesthetic experiences.

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The “Lifestyle
Superpower” plan
A 5-year economic plan with 5 interrelated
objectives:
a. Shorter working hours;
b. Affordable housing;
c. Improved social infrastructure;
d. Harmonious external relations, achieved in part through
a reduction of Japan’s trade surplus involving the
stimulation of domestic demand
e. Meaningful international contributions (“Tomorrow’s
‘Lifestyle Superpower’ ” 1992)
Improving the QoL, as in reducing working hours, is of
particular concern.

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Approaches to QoL
Comparative – temporal & spacial
Historical

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Different approaches are
possible
• Comparative approach:
Take an objective measure and examine it, as in a
measurement across the temporal dimension within the
same society.
Example: if we take the question of longevity across time,
these are the figures for Japan (WHO).
Life expectancy
at birth
Male Female Difference
1960 65 70 5
1980 73 79 6
2003 78 85 7
2012 82 86 4

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Life expectancy in Japan
 The life expectancy kept increasing.
 The male - female difference is now decreasing.

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What the stats says
• Crude statistics:
• Life expectancy increased across time.
• In 1935, the average longevity was about 45 and in
1950 about 60.
• Spatial comparison: Japan vs. UK
• Life expectancy in 2012 is 78 for men and 82 for
women, whereas in 1980-2 the longevity for men
was 71 and for women 77.
Longevity in both Japan and the UK has increased for
both male and female.
Japan has greater longevity than the UK.
Women in both countries live longer than men.

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Increasing 65+ population
• Increase in longevity has brought into focus
the question of the subjective QoL, as more
and more people survive into old age.
Percentage of over 65s in Japan and in the UK

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Prospect of Japanese
Economy and Society

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Possible causes
Low fertility and high life expectancies
•Small families  higher education, later
marriage, employment problems, lower income,
lack of privacy, small living spaces, increasing
costs of child care & education, lack of family
support, lack of social support system for child
bearing & caring
•Culture: Parasite Singles, Herbivore men ( 草食
系男子 Sōshoku-kei danshi)

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Problems ahead
• The increased % of older people brings up the
question of QoL in a number of areas:
At a G8 meeting of employment ministers in March 2005,
savings and pensions were discussed as serious
issues.
With a declining population, Japan faces the challenge of
how to pay for a large proportion of the population not
involved in paid activity, and not able to rely on an
extended family to look after them.
• Japan’s Government Pension Investment Fund

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New businesses targeting
“senior” customers
• New business opportunities targeting “baby
boomers (b. 1946-1965)” & “senior”
customers.
• Assisted/Adjustable furniture
• Mobility aids
• User-friendly electric appliances
• Meal Delivery
• Home care services (incl. bathing, etc.)
• Senior fashion, leisure, travel, etc.

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‘Good’ or ‘bad’ QoL in a
historical context
The question of ‘good’ or ‘bad’ QoL
brings us into the area of subjective
judgment on QoL.
A number of measures that could be
considered an indication.

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Positive indices
• To a certain level, the living standards enjoyed by
people can be taken as a positive indices of QoL.
• Living standards are a combination of private
consumption and collective consumption:
What members of society consume, as well as what
the government spends for the collectivity.
Some of this collective expenditure may be seen as
wasteful, as when the Japanese government spends
money to build bridges to nowhere.
But at least expenditure on e.g. education and health,
can be regarded as positive.

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Japan’s GDP per capita
• Based on purchasing power parity (basically, taking
the exchange rates to be in equilibrium) the following
figures (in US dollar) are obtained
• For 2014, it amounts $37595.18 (£24976.04) (current
1980 1990 2000 2002 2012
8,135 18,340 25,928 26,690 36,179
Historically,
the GDP per capita has
continued to increase in
PPP terms.
Historically,
the GDP per capita has
continued to increase in
PPP terms.

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Quality of life in historical
context
Positive indices:
•Per capita GNP
Negative indices:
•Working hours

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Negative indices
• Reducing the number of hours worked was one
of the goals of PM Miyazawa.
• Some improvement seems to have been made.
• If we take all industries, then there has been a
slight decrease in the hours worked.
• However, this is an average, including female
and part-time workers.

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What stats misses to
convey
• These average statistics for men do not take
into account:
• Discrepancies between occupations.
Men working in the transportation
industry averaged 48.6 h/week in 1997
and 49.3 h/week in 2002.
• Unpaid, unclaimed overtime, reputed to be
the case in the finance sector and other
white-collar jobs or transportation sector.

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Another parameter:
holidays
• Holidays entitlement not used:
In 1991 the number of paid holidays was 15.2
days/year, but the actual amount taken was 7.8, i.e.
about half (51%)
In 2003 the number of paid holidays was 18.2
days/year, but the actual amount taken was 8.8
days/year, less than 50% (48%)
In 2011, the number of paid holidays was 18.3
days/year, but the actual amount taken was 8.6
days/year, still less than 50% (49%) .
• Despite the increase in the amount of holiday
entitlement, the actual days taken remains low.

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Use of entitled holidays

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Is the quality of life in Japan
good or bad?
Similarities and differences between
Japan and the UK
Per capita GNP
Holidays and working hours
Wealth distribution
Spending on education
Spending on health
Crime rate

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‘Good’ or ‘bad’ QoL in a
comparative context
• Warning: Comparison fails to take into account
many of the important subjective QoL
questions on whether people prefer one
country for its QoL than another.
• The 2003 per capita GDP in Japan was ca.
£20,000, about 20% higher than in the UK, ca.
£15,800.
• The 2014 per capita GDP in Japan is estimated
£24976.04, while in the UK it is estimated at
£27216.54

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Working conditions in
Japan and in the UK
Male workers working hours in Japan and in the UK
• UK employers have a legal requirement to give at
least four weeks annual leave,
Trade Union Council claims more than 400,000
workers are cheated out of the full amount.
In other cases, due to a loophole in the Working Time
Regulations (1998), some employers count bank
holidays as part of the allowance.
Also, the UK has only eight bank holidays compared
with a minimum of 15 in Japan.
Country 1997 2002 2011
Japan 46.6 h/week 46.8 h/week 45.5 h/week
UK 41.8 h/week 40.9 h/week 39.0 h/week

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What do these mean?
• Overall, it would seem that, in terms of hours
worked and holidays, the British QoL is better
than the Japanese.
• But what if you gain social meaning from work
relations, and enjoy what you do?
• As long as it does not harm health, does
working longer hours mean you have a poorer
QoL?

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Wealth distribution
• Wealth distribution in a society has been an
issue for thinkers for centuries:
• The 19th century philosopher John Stuart
Mill’s proposal of utilitarianism.
• According to the utilitarians, actions are
morally right if they promote the greatest
happiness for the greatest number.

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Issues with utilitarianism
• In the utilitarian perspective, what happens to
the minority?
• Is the way wealth distributed in society simply
a result of the effort of individuals?
• What role should the state play to distribute
the wealth of society (e.g. through taxes) and
take a role in caring for the less fortunate.
• These are issues of major concern for political
parties in both Japan and the UK.

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Wealth distribution,
poverty
• If we take household income or consumption by
percentage share:
In 1993 the lowest 10% in Japan consumed 4.8%,
whereas the highest 10% consumed 21.7%.
In the UK, in 1995 the lowest 10% consumed 2.3%
and the highest 27.7%.
In short, the poorest 10% are worse off in the UK
than in Japan, suggesting more unequal distribution
of wealth.
• In 2010-11, 16.1% of the UK population lived
below the poverty line vs.15.7% in Japan.

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Government and equality
• Under the recent government, committed more
to the equality of opportunity rather than
equality of results, the gap between the rich
and the poor can be expected to increase.
• This inequality may be acceptable for a society,
so long as there is equality of opportunity...
• ...but, the equality of opportunity, as, for
instance, with education, is strongly related to
the occupation of parents and income levels.

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Education expenditure
• Spending on education in Japan in 2012 was
3.7% of GDP, and spending on education and
skills in the UK was 3.7% as well
• Parental expenditure on education in Japan
for fiscal 2009 was as follows:
Public Private
Kindergarden 669,925 1,625,592
Lower secondary 1,443,927 3,709,312
Upper secondary 1,545.853 2,929,077

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Other QoL factors
1960 1990 2001 2010
Japan 1.8 4.6 6.2 7.6
UK 3.3 5.0 6.2 8.1
1960 1990 2001 2008-9
Japan 1 1.7 1.9 2.2
UK 0.8 1.5 2.0 2.7
2010, OECD
Public expenditure on health as percentage of GDP
Number of physicians per 1,000 population
1960 1990 2001 2009
Japan 1 1.7 1.9 0.9
UK 0.8 1.5 2.0 2.2
Murder rate per 100,000 population

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Emerging division in the
Japanese middle class
Economic stagnation & the government’s
economic reform in 1996.
The IT-revolution of economy.
The ‘Hills tribe’.
The Japanese middle class remaining as
the ‘winning’ group.
The emerging ‘losing’ group.

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Division emerging in the
Japanese middle class
• Under the high and stable economic growth the
self-perception of the Japanese has long been
one of being ‘middle class’.
• A very large portion categorized as ‘middle
class’.
• However, a class division is emerging within
the middle class since the end of the bubble,
the effects felt are:
• The Government’s economic reform in 1996.
• The IT-revolution of economy.
• The bubble economy increased the value of
properties/assets such as land, buildings, etc.

42
After the bubble economy
• The long period of economic stagnation and
subsequent restructuring lead to:
Restraints on salary (some cuts in salaries) for some
parts of the work force, the reduction in the number of
regular employees.
Increase in the number of irregular employees, especially
in the latter half of the 1990s.
Little opportunities for those without property and superior
educational background to obtain a source of income.
IT-revolution in the economy has created economic
competition over the control of information, and a gap
between those who can take advantage of it and those
who cannot.

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What resulted
• Of the middle class emerged:
 At the top, a super-wealthy subclass, ca. 0.1% of
the Japanese population, such as the Hiruzu zoku
(the Hills Tribe, after the fancy life-styles of those
who live in Roppongi Hills, Tokyo)
 At the middle, those who have managed to remain
as the middle class with a stable job, a decent
income and a house
 At the bottom, the wâking puā (working poor),
barely surviving with a low salary, with unstable
employment and with little entitlement to social
benefits.

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The working poors
• The majority of the people who have fallen into the
last group are:
• Mid-30s or over (incl. graduates of shûshoku-hyôga-
ki 　‘ Employment Ice Age’ a.k.a. Japanese lost
generation of 1994-2004).
• Those laid off and found a new job with less salary,
usually without stability.
• Young people, including university graduates, who
have more difficulty in finding a regular employment
in the severe economic situation in Japan.
• Those regarded as “sukiru pua (skill-poor)”.

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Among those people are...
• The haken shain, full-time workers who are hired
on a temporary contract (via an agency).
• The furîtâ, permanent part-time workers.
• The unemployed youth, the nîto, Japanese term
for ‘NEET’ (Not in Education, Employment, or
Training)
• They cannot be economically independent
• Live with their parents in their late 20s or even in
their 30s (the parasaito shinguru, standing for
‘parasite single’).

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Freeters and NEETs
over the last 28 years
Unit: in million persons. Source: Cabinet Office (CO) and MoHLW, 1982-2010.
Employment “Ice Age” for the Lost
Generation

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Win or Lose
• The popular terms
kachi-gumi (winners’ group)
make-gumi (losers’ group)
• Became a popular term among the Japanese
media and young people in 90’s – now spread
across generations.
• This created a strong sense of emerging
disparity and inequality in Japan.

48
The Gap is officialized
• A nation-wide debate on the class division has
become very active following the publication of
a report by the MoHL in June 2004
• The result of a new survey showed that the gap
in income has widened since the last survey
conducted in 2001.
• The Economic White Paper of 2006 further
mentioned that:
• Statistically, the gap in income has widened
among the younger generation, between 30s
and 40s and among male workers.

49
The gap and the education
• Children in a household with a higher income
receive better education and perform better at
school.
• Graduates from a better school tend to be
advantaged in getting better employment with a
higher income in Japan
• This is an indication that the current widening gap
in income will be passed on to the following
generations.

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Opinion of the young
• Both the Asahi poll (January 2006) and the
Yomiuri poll (March 2006) showed that the
younger generations are:
• More in favour of a big state compared to those
in the older age group.
• Hope for the government to intervene to ensure
social benefits are available.

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Government’s move
• Towards neo-liberal economic policy which
promotes free competition, by:
• Reducing the income tax for those with high
incomes (75% in 1983 to 37% in 2003, now 40%)
• Reducing inheritance tax (70% to 50% in 2003)
• Meanwhile:
• Increasing the consumption tax: 3% when adopted
in 1989, 5% in 1997, increase to 8% in 2014,
10%..?),
• Abolishing tax exemptions for people with low
income, and
• Reducing the welfare budget and education, etc.

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Government’s view

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Neoliberal values
• Some prominent political and business leaders are
expressing a rather positive view on kakusa,
• The wealth is an outcome of individual effort and
ability.
• Claim for kakusa as a social problem is an argument
of a dependent person.
• This shows neoliberal values have their supporters
in Japan.

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Work-Life Balance
A balanced prioritization between "work" (career and
ambition) and "lifestyle” (health, family, pleasure, leisure,
spiritual, social and community activities).
MoHLW launched “Work-Life Balance Promotion Project”
in 2008 inviting 10 leading companies to participate.
“Guidelines for Measures to be taken by employers to help
balance work life and family life for workers
Solution to aging society, health care/welfare
expenditure for aged, & declining Child birth?
who take care or are going to take care of children or
other family members”.
<http://www.mhlw.go.jp/general/seido/koyou/ryouritu/english/e5.html>

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Conclusion
• The different ways of conceptualizing and
assessing the ‘quality of life’.
• The different approaches in defining
‘quality of life’.
• The quality of life in Japan in a historical
context.
• The quality of life in Japan in a
comparative context.
• The emerging division in the Japanese
middle class.

Eas205 lecture 7 2015 16

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