Asian Studies

Post-war Japan saw the introduction of a number of social and economic reform programs. These were aimed at promoting equality and empowerment in sectors such as the rural regions and women. However, many argue that the reforms have not been really beneficial to the targeted beneficiaries and in fact have only led to an increase in income disparities, lower birth rates and to an ageing population. This paper seeks to identify the particular reforms launched in post-war Japan and to discuss why the targets of promoting equality and empowerment through these reforms have not been realized.

Social Reform, Equality and Empowerment in Post-War Japan
Post-war Japan saw an increase in income disparities between the rural and urban areas. Hasunuma (2008) notes that according to the Governments Annual Report on the Japanese Economy and Public Finance in 2007, there was a trend towards inequality in the 1980s due to transformations in the age structure and changes in the labor force (Hasunuma, 2008, p.5).

To answer this, reforms were launched there were efforts to decrease the inequality between the rural and urban regions by moving incomes from bigger cities to the smaller areas through the Local Allocation Tax System (LAT) (Hasunuma, 2008), women were given employment opportunities through the Equal Employment Opportunity Law (EEOL) (Shinohara, date) and government local expenditures were cut down (Hasunuma, 2008).

Targeted by these reforms, as part of the social empowerment trend, were disenfranchised groups or sectors that were less privileged such as the rural regions, women and children, and the old. However, there were evidences that these groups conditions were more or less the same as when the reforms such as the LAT were first introduced. Hasunuma (2008) takes the situation of Akita and Osaka as examples of rural and urban areas, respectively. Akitas economic problems were deepened due to its dependency on the transfers from the government and Osakas lost revenues could not be replenished because it does not receive fund transfers.

    The mobilization of the women through the EEOL (Shinohara, 2007) resulted into lower birth rates and older population. Penalties for not following the EEOL were lax and so gender discriminations in the workplace were not altogether wiped out.

    It is thus not unfounded to say that social reforms for equality and empowerment were half-baked and with global engagement becoming inevitable, incremental changes (Gluck, 1998) brought about by half-baked reforms may not be enough.

Gluck, Carol (1998). Top ten things to know about Japan in the late 1990s. Education About Asia, 5. Retrieved March 21, 2010 from Education About Asia database.
Hasunuma, Linda (2008). Japans shifting patterns of local governance and implications for regional inequalities. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the APSA 2008 Annual Meeting, Hynes Convention Center, Boston, Massachusetts, Aug 28, 2008. Retrieved March 21, 2010 from All Academic Inc. database

Shinohara, Chika (2007). Transforming law and social consciousness in Japan Perspectives on Contemporary Issues in Family and Work. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Sociological Association, TBA, New York, New York City, Aug 10, 2007. Retrieved March 21, 2010 from All Academic Inc. database.