Social Security and Policy Gaps
Social Security and Policy Gaps
Structural gaps in social security: the 20% welfare capture rate, invisible barriers to disability pensions, populations unreached by policy, and rising social insurance burdens.
75 items
Insights & Analysis
The Rise in Care-Home Food and Housing Charges Falls Only on the Upper Two Tiers Inside the Tax-Exempt Group — Japan's Supplementary Benefit Line Moves With the Pension Revision
WelfareSocial InsurancePolicyJapan
Insights & Analysis
Young Carers Fall to 4.1% by Year 11 and Return to 6.2% in Their Third University Year — The Person Cared For Shifts From a Sibling to a Parent With Mental Illness
WelfareEducationSocial IssuesJapan
Insights & Analysis
424 of the 449 Disaster-Related Deaths in Noto Were Aged 70 or Over — Individual Evacuation Plans Cover 15.1% of the Registers, and 40°C Has Now Settled Over Kumamoto's Shelters
DisasterWelfareAging SocietyLocal Government
Insights & Analysis
Japan's National Pension Payment Rate Hits 79.6%, Rising for a 14th Year — Yet Fewer Months Are Actually Being Paid
WelfareSocial InsuranceLabor & EmploymentPolicy Analysis
Insights & Analysis
While a Work-Injury Claim Waits, Nothing Bridges the Bereaved — Six-Month-Plus Backlog Doubled to 2,329 in Five Years
Labor & EmploymentWelfarePolicy AnalysisJapan
Insights & Analysis
Japan's Second-Hand Smoke Law Seven Years In — The Revised Health Promotion Act and Regional Variation in Indoor-Smoking Rules
Health & MedicinePublic HealthPolicy AnalysisPolicy Gap
Insights & Analysis
Japan's Comprehensive Support Act for Persons with Disabilities — Two Years into the Operational Phase
DisabilityDisability WelfareWelfareSocial Issues
Insights & Analysis
Time Asymmetry in Pediatric Care: How Japan's 71.9% Dual-Income Reality Collides with Medical Access
Health & MedicineWelfareLabor & EmploymentGender
Insights & Analysis
When Sick-Child Care Fails on the Day of Fever: Japan's Social-Security Gap
WelfareSocial IssuesPolicy AnalysisGender
Insights & Analysis
Bound by the Phone: The Structure That Distorts Nursing Labor Quality and Time Allocation
Health & MedicineLabor & EmploymentWelfarePolicy Analysis
Insights & Analysis
One Year After Japan's Loneliness and Isolation Countermeasures Act: Why Only 0.6% of Municipalities Set Up Regional Councils
Loneliness & IsolationWelfarePublic PolicyJapan
Insights & Analysis
Japan's April 2026 Welfare Reform: What Changed, and What Didn't
WelfareSocial IssuesPolicy AnalysisJapan
Insights & Analysis
When Private Afterschool Care Costs Exceed Take-Home Pay — The Market Mechanics of Japan's Child Penalty
WelfareEducationLabor & EmploymentWages
Insights & Analysis
Japan's 2025 Births Fall to 671,000 — 15 Years Ahead of Projections, Even as Marriages Rose
PopulationDemographicsPolicy AnalysisEconomy
Insights & Analysis
Japan's Late-Elderly Medical Premium Cap Raised from ¥800K to ¥850K (FY2026): Pinpoint Increase on the Top 1.2% and Its Spillover to Middle and Lower Incomes
WelfarePublic PolicySocial IssuesHealth & Medicine
Insights & Analysis
Financial Income in Insurance Premiums by FY2028 — Fixing the Anomaly Where Filing a Tax Return Raises Your Premium
WelfareEconomyPublic PolicySocial Issues
Insights & Analysis
Public Shortage, Private Deficit, Exit, Re-Rush — The Structural Loop of Private After-School Programs and Japan's 'Fourth-Grade Wall'
WelfareSocial IssuesLabor & EmploymentJapan
Insights & Analysis
Japan's 2026 Social Insurance Burden Rush — ¥4,800 More a Year at a ¥6M Income
WelfareEconomyWagesPolicy Analysis
Insights & Analysis
Japan's Working Pension Threshold Raised to ¥650,000: Who Actually Benefits?
Aging SocietyLabor & EmploymentWelfarePolicy Analysis
Insights & Analysis
The Emergency Revision of Long-Term Care Reimbursement Rates and Its Structural Limits: The Government's Own Confession That the Ordinary System Can No Longer Keep Up
WelfareLabor & EmploymentSocial IssuesAging Society
Insights & Analysis
Structural Analysis of Foreign Aid Budget Allocation: Does the ODA vs. Domestic Welfare Tradeoff Hold?
International AffairsEconomyWelfarePolicy Analysis
Insights & Analysis
The Core of Japan's Declining Birthrate Is Not Childcare Support: Interrogating the Generational Distribution of 114 Trillion Yen in Social Security
Local Structural IssuesPopulationWelfareEconomy
Insights & Analysis
Japan's 1.13 Fertility Rate — The 2015 Turning Point When Married Couples Stopped Having Children
PopulationDemographicsPolicy AnalysisEconomy
Insights & Analysis
Is Japan's Childcare Levy a 'Bachelor Tax'? — The Political Reason Social Insurance Was Chosen Over Tax
WelfareTaxationParentingPolicy Analysis
Insights & Analysis
Closing Libraries, Digging Shelters — The Tradeoff Between Defense Expansion and Cultural Budget Cuts
CultureNational SecurityPolicy GapInternational Affairs
Insights & Analysis
Is Babysitter Pay a 'Business Expense'? — The Structural Fault Line in Childcare Tax Deductions
TaxationWelfareChildrenPolicy Gap
Insights & Analysis
One Year Since Japan's Loneliness Countermeasures Act — Can We Quantify 'Connection'?
Loneliness & IsolationWelfarePublic PolicyJapan
Insights & Analysis
Single-Parent Poverty at 44.5%: The Structure Behind 'Working but Still Poor'
WelfareInequalitySocial IssuesJapan
Insights & Analysis
Is a 14.3% Turnover Rate 'Low'? — The Triple Burden of Wages, Working Conditions, and Social Standing in Care Work
WelfareLabor & EmploymentWagesJapan
Insights & Analysis
The 'Invisible Walls' of Disability Pension — Structural Barriers from Application to Receipt
WelfareLegal & RegulatoryJapan
Insights & Analysis
Why Japan Names Crime Victims in the News — The Structure of Media Disclosure and Secondary Victimization
Legal & RegulatoryWelfaresociologyJapan
Insights & Analysis
Aid Abroad, Neglect at Home? Unpacking Japan's ODA Critique and Fiscal Reality
EconomyInternational AffairsWelfarePolicy Analysis
Insights & Analysis
Gen Z Is Not Lazy: The Structural Trap That Makes "Not Working" a Rational Choice in Japan
WelfareLabor & EmploymentEconomyJapan
Insights & Analysis
Fertility Rate 1.15 on a ¥7.3 Trillion Budget: Evaluating Three Years of Japan's Children and Families Agency
WelfareEconomyPolicy AnalysisPopulation
Insights & Analysis
695,000 Licensed Nurses Not at Work — The Structure of Nurse Attrition and the 7-to-1 Staffing Trap
Health & MedicineLabor & EmploymentWelfarePolicy Analysis
Insights & Analysis
Prohibition Orders Can't Stop Stalkers — The Case for Mandatory GPS Monitoring
Legal & RegulatoryWelfarePolicy AnalysisJapan
Insights & Analysis
Japan's ¥135.5 Trillion Social Security Breakdown — Pensions 41.6%, Healthcare 33.6%, and a ¥65M Generational Gap
WelfareEconomyPolicy AnalysisJapan
Insights & Analysis
The Anatomy of Japan's 'Child Penalty' — The Triple Burden of Child Allowance, Education, and Housing
WelfareEducationWagesJapan
Insights & Analysis
Business Manager Visa Capital Requirement Raised 6x to ¥30 Million — 96% of Current Holders Fall Short
ImmigrationLegal & RegulatoryLabor & EmploymentEconomy
Insights & Analysis
30 Years of Social Insurance Premiums — How Much Has Take-Home Pay Fallen for a ¥300K Monthly Salary?
WelfareWagesPolicy AnalysisJapan
Labs
Literature Map: The Lineage of Social Policy — Tachibana, Kenjoh, Miyamoto, and ISVD's Intersection
Social DesignPolicy AnalysisWelfare
Insights & Analysis
Welfare Capture Rates and the 12-Fold Prefectural Gap: A Data-Driven Analysis
WelfarePolicy AnalysisInequalityJapan
Insights & Analysis
¥15 Billion Fraud in Type-A Employment Support — Inside Kizuna HD's '36-Month Project' Addition-Cycling
WelfareSocial IssuesPolicy AnalysisLegal & Regulatory
Insights & Analysis
What Is Social Inclusion? — The Four-Dimensional Mechanism of Exclusion and Japan's Current Position
Social IssuesWelfareJapan
Insights & Analysis
Do You Know the 'Conditions' for Free University Tuition? — Income Limits, Multi-Child Requirements, and International Comparison
EducationPublic PolicyWelfareJapan
Debates
Can Basic Income Replace Social Security?
WelfarePolicyDebateSocial Issues
Insights & Analysis
The Structure and Limitations of Japan's Disability Employment Quota System — What Happens Inside the Legal Rate of 2.5%
DisabilityLabor & EmploymentSocial IssuesJapan
Insights & Analysis
How Many Income Walls Are There? — The Break-Even Points at ¥1.03M, ¥1.30M, ¥1.50M, and ¥2.01M
Labor & EmploymentTaxationWelfarePolicy Analysis
Insights & Analysis
The Cost of Zero Waitlists — Record 3,190 Childcare Accidents Reveal the Simultaneous Collapse of Quality Amid Quantitative Expansion
ChildrenWelfarePolicy AnalysisJapan
Insights & Analysis
The Structural Risks of Zero Food Tax — What a 5-Trillion-Yen 'Simple Solution' Obscures
Policy AnalysisWelfareInequalityJapan
Insights & Analysis
A 5-Million-Yen Salary in One Chart — Where ¥1.1M Goes, and How It Compares to 10 Years Ago
Labor & EmploymentTaxationWelfareEconomy
Practice Guides
Integrating Climate Justice and Social Policy — A Design Guide
GuideClimate ChangeEnvironmental JusticeWelfare
Insights & Analysis
'Not Enough Time' Is Not a Personal Problem — The Structure of Time Poverty Produced by a 5.5-fold Gender Gap in Unpaid Labor
GenderLabor & EmploymentWelfareJapan
Insights & Analysis
'Fund Museums with Public Money' — What's at Stake in a Country Spending 0.02% of GDP on Culture
CulturePolicy GapSocial IssuesJapan
Insights & Analysis
The Silent Erosion of Disposable Income — How Inflation and Rising Social Insurance Premiums Are Squeezing Household Finances in 2026
EconomyWagesPricesWelfare
Practice Guides
The Common Structure of 'Unreached Populations' — What a 20% Take-up Rate Reveals About Policy Design
WelfareSocial IssuesPolicy GapStakeholder
Insights & Analysis
How Much Is Japan's Child Support Levy? The Burden on Singles and Childless Households
WelfarePolicy AnalysisInequalityPopulation
Insights & Analysis
Why They Keep Gathering Despite Exclusion — The Structural 'Place to Belong' Crisis Revealed by Guri-shita and Tō-yoko
YouthSocial IssuesWelfareJapan
Insights & Analysis
What 'Tuition-Free' Doesn't Cover — The Education Gap Hidden by Japan's High School Tuition Subsidy
EducationPolicy AnalysisWelfareJapan
Labs
Poverty and Epistemic Exclusion — The Structure of 'Being Unable Even to Know'
AgnotologyEpistemic InjusticeWelfareSocial Issues
Insights & Analysis
Japan's Bicycle 'Blue Ticket' — The Contradiction of Enforcement Without Infrastructure
TransportationLegal & RegulatoryPolicy GapSocial Issues
Insights & Analysis
When Children's Tables Break Down — The Triple Crisis of Free School Lunches, Solitary Eating, and Kodomo Shokudo
Social IssuesEducationWelfareChildren
Practice Guides
Wellbeing Policy Design Guide — Embedding Subjective Well-Being in Public Policy
GuideWelfarePolicy MakingSystems Thinking
Insights & Analysis
Pension Intergenerational Inequality — A ¥60 Million Structural Fault Line
WelfareSocial IssuesInequalityAging Society
Labs
Why Are the Voices of Persons with Disabilities Not Heard? — The Japanese Structure of Testimonial Injustice
AgnotologyEpistemic InjusticeWelfareSocial Issues
Insights & Analysis
The Structure of ¥48 Trillion in Medical Expenses — A Turning Point for Sustainability Toward 2030
WelfareHealth & MedicinePolicy AnalysisJapan
Insights & Analysis
Dismantling the '1.06 Million Yen Wall' — The Social Insurance Turning Point Facing 2 Million Workers
Labor & EmploymentWelfareNon-Regular EmploymentPolicy Analysis
Insights & Analysis
The Structure of Japan's Care Worker Crisis — The 'Invisible Roadmap' to 2040
Labor & EmploymentWelfareAging SocietySocial Issues
Insights & Analysis
Behind Japan's 11.5% Child Poverty Rate: The 44.5% Single-Parent Reality
Social IssuesInequalityWelfarePopulation
Insights & Analysis
Public Assistance 'Capture Rate' 20% — The Invisible Gaps in Japan's Safety Net
WelfareSocial IssuesPolicy AnalysisJapan
Labs
The Complaint Gap Phenomenon — Why 'Reporting Won't Change Anything' Is Rational
Complaint GapCivic FeedbackPolicy GapNoise Regulation
Labs
Why Loud Motorcycles and Modified Cars Aren't Caught — Structural Analysis of Noise Regulations
Traffic NoiseRegulatory AnalysisNoise RegulationPolicy Gap
Labs
Those Living Along Arterial Roads Bear the Greatest Noise Burden — An Environmental Justice Hypothesis for Japan
Environmental JusticeZoningNoise InequalityUrban Planning
Practice Guides
Why AI Adoption Stalls in Nonprofits — Three Structural Barriers and How to Overcome Them
WelfareDigital & AINPO SupportAI Adoption
Insights & Analysis
Questions Posed by U.S. Welfare Retrenchment — Where Is Institutional Trust Heading?
WelfareSocial IssuesUnited States