Japan
7 items
The Structure of the Care Worker Crisis — An 'Invisible Roadmap' to 2040
Japan will face a shortage of 570,000 care workers by 2040, according to projections by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare. With a job openings-to-applicants ratio of 3.9 and turnover and hiring rates nearly equal, what appears to be a quantitative problem intersects with systemic failures in institutional design. This column examines the crisis through a three-layer structural analysis.
The 'Depth' of Child Poverty — What the Relative Poverty Rate Cannot Tell Us
Japan's child relative poverty rate fell to 11.5% in the 2021 survey. Yet an improving 'rate' does not necessarily mean improving 'depth.' A 44.5% poverty rate among single-parent households, the paradox of the highest employment rate co-existing with the highest poverty rate among OECD nations, and the explosive growth of children's cafeterias all point to forms of deprivation that a single threshold cannot capture.
Public Assistance Take-up Rate at 20% — The Invisible Leakage in Japan's Safety Net
An estimated 20% of those eligible for public assistance in Japan actually receive it. The remaining 80% are unreached by the system. Behind this gap lie three barriers — psychological, procedural, and informational. Compared with Germany's 64% and the UK's 57%, Japan's structural problem comes into sharp relief.
The Sustainability 2026 Problem — The Wall Facing Japanese Companies Ahead of Mandatory Disclosure
Mandatory sustainability disclosure under SSBJ standards is approaching. A structural analysis of the phased regulatory changes and the state of preparedness among Japanese companies.
14-Day Consecutive Work Cap and Rest Interval Between Shifts — A Turning Point in Japan's Labor Reform Debate
With only 5.7% of firms adopting a rest-interval policy, Japan's first major Labour Standards Act overhaul in four decades confronts deep structural barriers to implementation.
Japan's Digital Platform Regulation — The Transparency Act, Smartphone Software Act, and Information Distribution Platform Act Define New Rules
The Transparency Act for Digital Platforms, the Act on Promotion of Competition for Smartphone Software, and the Act on Measures Against Information Distribution Platform. Three laws are reshaping Japan's digital platform regulation simultaneously — an institutional design perspective.
U.S.–Israeli Military Strikes on Iran — Implications for Energy Security and Civil Society
From the Twelve-Day War of June 2025 to the large-scale strikes of February 2026. This analysis examines the structural vulnerabilities in energy security facing Japan—a nation 96% dependent on Middle Eastern crude oil—and the questions that military action poses for civil society.