Japans Welfare-State Regime : Welfare Politics, Provider and Regulator

Abstract

In the late 1990s the Korean government made many welfare expansion reforms, while Japanese government adopted the retrenchment social policy. This contrast implies that Welfare Orientalism should come to an end. Uncritical adoption of regime theory to non-European countries has many problems. In order to understand the Japan welfare state regime exactly, I propose the definition of welfare state welfare state as national goal (welfare politics), welfare state as provider (redistributive structure) and welfare state regulator (regulatory structure). After that, I will try to identify the characteristics of Japan regime. It is characterized as a strong state bureaucracy and a weak social democracy; a relatively low level of social expenditure and a high level of expenditure for public works; weak social regulation and strong economic regulation. Finally, I assert that such welfare regime is being challenged by social and economic change at the present time.