The welfare state strategy of Japan which is a country industrial late coming(1945-1973)

Kim, Young-Pil / Dongguk University

This paper explores how the Japanese government, a defeated nation of World War II, had established the welfare state ...

The welfare state strategy of Japan which is a country industrial late coming(1945-1973)

Kim, Young-Pil / Dongguk University

This paper explores how the Japanese government, a defeated nation of World War II, had established the welfare state taking what strategies from the period of the post-war ruins to the first oil shock in 1973.
It studies the welfare state strategies of the Japanese government during the post-war period and the characteristics of them exploring the party political aspects of LDP(Liberal Democratic Party), the conservative party, and JSP(Japanese Socialist Party), the progressive party. And also it explains the characteristics of the so-called Japanese welfare state considering the close relations among the conservative party centered political circles, the large enterprises centered economic circles, and the bureaucracy. By the case study of the Medical Bill Free Policy for the Aged which shows the characteristics of the Japanese welfare state most clearly, it tries to standardize what the Japanese welfare state is.
It concludes that the strategy for the welfare state was carried out as policies for the economic growth replaced the welfare and the social security system. Therefore the welfare system has been built as a dependent variable of the economic growth, which is naturally followed by remained limits. And it is a critical point for the Korean government as we have been following the Japanese model of development.

Key Words: welfare state strategy, Medical Bill Free Policy for the Aged, Japanese model of development, Liberal Democratic Party in Japan, Japanese Socialist Party