life2

Japan Press Service Co., Ltd. is the only news agency providing information of progressive, democratic movements in Japan

Man commits suicide in protest against rejection of his application for welfare benefit

A 37-year-old man on July 24 committed suicide in front of an Akita City welfare office after his second application for welfare benefits was rejected. The Japanese welfare administration under Prime Minister Koizumi Jun'ichiro's "structural reform" policy claimed a life once again.

Due to a sleep disorder, the man could not get a steady job and lived in a car. He hoped to sleep in a room, receive proper treatment, and work. The welfare office, however, rejected his application for public assistance, on the grounds that he did not make use of his ability.

In Kitakyushu City in Fukuoka Prefecture, a 56-year-old man, whose application for welfare benefit had been rejected, starved to death in May. In Kyoto City, a 54-year-old man killed his demented mother and made a suicide attempt in February after he gave up receiving welfare benefits.

Concerning the Kyoto case, the Kyoto District Court's ruling issued on July 21 touched on the problem by saying, "The way Japan's nursing-care and welfare systems are run is called into question."

Tsuji Seiji of the National Federation for Safeguarding of People's Living and Life (Zenseiren) pointed out that the welfare ministry has forcibly implemented a policy of rejecting new requests and to discontinue providing welfare benefits since the 1980s, and that the Koizumi government is further strengthening this policy.

In May, the Welfare Ministry's Social Welfare and War Victims' Relief Bureau convened for the first time a national meeting of welfare office directors and requested them to lower the welfare benefit level, saying, "Social services require the single largest budgetary expenditure in Japan. In this field, only the livelihood protection subsidy has not been 'reformed' yet."

The number of people who are on welfare increased to 1,484,000 in 2005 from 887,000 in 1996 because the social gap and poverty rate have increased as a result of the Koizumi "structural reform" policy.

Based on Article 25 of the Constitution guaranteeing the right to live, the government should return to its original stance to give public livelihood assistance to those in need.
- Akahata, July 26, 2006