Tag - social-welfare

 
 

SOCIAL WELFARE

Making things work as a foreign, single mother in Japan isn't easy, but these tips and tricks can help you through the hardest parts.
COMMUNITY / Voices / FOREIGN AGENDA
Apr 28, 2024
Raising kids in Japan as a single parent? It takes a village.
As with for any single parent, life can present challenges. For those times, you'll need to learn resilience, perseverance and attention to detail.
Ayuko Kato, minister in charge of children's policies (right), stands after a bill on expanding child-rearing allowances clears a Lower House committee on Thursday.
JAPAN / Politics
Apr 18, 2024
Lower House panel approves bill aiming to address low birthrate
The bill will expand child-rearing allowances, funded through a new system to collect additional fees on top of public medical insurance premiums.
Ayuko Kato, minister for children-related policies
JAPAN
Apr 12, 2024
Japan discloses more details of costs to fight low birthrate
The planned fees that will be added to public medical insurance premiums aims to help secure funds to combat the declining birthrate trend.
Japan will charge members of medical insurance programs with fees starting in fiscal 2026 to tackle the country's sluggish birthrate.
JAPAN
Mar 29, 2024
Fight against low birthrate to cost ¥450 monthly per head
The government plans to boost annual spending on measures to fight the sluggish birthrate to ¥3.6 trillion by fiscal 2028.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Komeito leader Natsuo Yamaguchi shakes hands at the parliamentary building following the enactment of the fiscal 2024 budget on Thursday.
JAPAN / Politics
Mar 29, 2024
Japan enacts ¥112.6 trillion budget for fiscal 2024
The budget includes a record ¥7.95 trillion in defense spending.
Medical fees will be lowered by 0.12% in fiscal 2024, marking the fifth consecutive reduction in the fees that are reviewed every two years.
JAPAN
Dec 20, 2023
Japan fees for medical services and drugs to be lowered by 0.12%
The government will raise its official fees for nursing and disability welfare services by 1.59% and 1.12%, respectively, in fiscal 2024.
Yoshikazu Uchikawa, head lawyer representing plaintiffs of a lawsuit demanding that cuts in welfare benefits be revoked, speaks at a news conference in Nagoya on Thursday following a Nagoya High Court ruling.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Dec 1, 2023
Japan high court revokes welfare benefit cuts
The plaintiffs argued that there was an error in the method for calculating the price index used as the basis for the reductions.
In some cases, it's up to individual foreign residents to understand the unique tax implications of their home countries and Japan in order to avoid a penny-pinching retirement.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / Age Wise
Nov 5, 2023
Retiring in Japan? Be prepared to foot your own bills.
“In an ideal world, everyone should have retirement planning on their radar as soon as possible when working life begins.”
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida (left) and Digital Minister Taro Kono observe digitized administrative procedures in the city of Fukuoka on July 27.
JAPAN / Politics
Aug 8, 2023
My Number report highlights errors by insurers and local governments
Roughly 20% of surveyed local governments followed the wrong procedures when linking My Number with disability records.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jul 10, 2023
Japan to digitalize applications for welfare with My Number system
The number of in-person welfare applications exceeded 3.82 million between March 2020 and September 2022, during the height of the pandemic.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jul 6, 2023
Low incomes most likely to curb children's extracurricular activities, survey finds
The survey covered 2,097 parents of elementary school students from grades 1 to 6 over a period of two days in October 2022.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jun 20, 2023
My Number ID system faces further setback with erroneous deliveries
The cases highlighted the risk that My Number cards could be abused by individuals pretending to be someone else when applying for social security or state benefits.
Japan Times
EDITORIALS
Jun 9, 2023
My Number glitches undermine Japan’s digital future
Japan's My Number card system was meant to usher in a digital society, but the effort has been plagued with problems and fallen far short of expectations.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jun 8, 2023
My Number ID cards face new hurdle over bank account issues
In many cases, parents provided accounts in their own names when registering their children to the service instead of their children's names.
Japan Times
JAPAN
May 21, 2023
Japan aims to double child-related budgets by 2035
The government plans to create a new special account to unify the management of budgets related to children.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Apr 6, 2023
Japan weighs raising social insurance premiums to help tackle falling birthrate
Several trillion yen is expected to be necessary to implement all items in a draft package of measures for addressing the country's low birthrate released last week.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 31, 2023
Japan's new fiscal year to bring more price hikes and changes to social systems
The start of April will herald the second year in a row in which widespread hikes to foods and services prices, caused by surging materials prices, will weigh on household finances.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 17, 2023
Japan weighs linking benefits recipients' bank info with My Number
Under a proposed law revision, authorities will ask people whose account info is already known to public bodies for benefit payments whether they want to link the two.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Society
Jan 10, 2023
Japan proxy agencies for disabled hires grow as firms try to fill quota
Although the practice leads to the fulfillment of quotas, the low quality of employment essentially equates to the exclusion of the disabled workforce.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Dec 23, 2022
Japan unveils record budget in boost to military capabilities
The draft budget features record military and welfare spending as Japan confronts regional security challenges from an ever-assertive China and an unpredictable North Korea.

Longform

Later this month, author Shogo Imamura will open Honmaru, a bookstore that allows other businesses to rent its shelves. It's part of a wave of ideas Japanese booksellers are trying to compete with online spaces.
The story isn't over for Japan's bookstores