Japan’s ageing, shrinking population

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Whichever party wins Japan’s August 30 general election must deal with a population forecast to shrink and age rapidly, because of the country’s low birth rate, high life expectancy and aversion to immigration.
Following are some facts about Japan’s population trends.

* Japan is currently the world’s 10th-largest country in terms of population, with more than 127 million people. By 2050, it is forecast to rank 18th, with 93.7 million, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

* That compares with Russia’s population, which is also forecast to fall from 140 million in 2009 to 109.2 million in 2050, knocking it from 9th position to 16th.

* Japan’s population dependency ratio, or the number of people of working age supporting each elderly person, stood at 3.3 in 2005, but will fall to 1.3 by 2055 according to the National Institute of Population and Social Security Research.

* An IMF study calculated that Japan’s real GDP would fall by a cumulative 20 percent over the next century, compared with a baseline simulation with a stationary population.

* The Health Ministry forecasts pension costs will rise to 56 trillion yen in 2015, compared with 39.5 trillion yen in 2006, while health care spending is expected to rise to 37 trillion from 27.5 trillion in 2006. Some in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) say consumption tax will need to be raised from the current five percent in future to fund rising social security costs.

* Defense spending has been falling annually from a high of 49.4 trillion yen as social security takes an increasing share of the budget. It will likely fall further and Japan may have trouble staffing its [constitutionally illegal] military due to the shortage of young people.

Sources: U.S. Census Bureau, IMF, National Institute of Population and Social Security Research, Ministry of Health and Welfare, Defense Ministry, Pacific Forum CSIS

http://www.reuters.com/article/newsMaps/idUSTRE56U02620090731

Social Insurance Agency reprimands collection chief over altered records

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The Social Insurance Agency has taken disciplinary action against a Tokyo social insurance office worker for altering records to understate people’s standard monthly earnings, which form the basis for calculating pension insurance premiums.

It is the only case in which the agency has admitted alteration of records by a worker, and the first time for disciplinary action to be taken over record falsification.

When questioned over his actions, the worker, a former collection section head, reportedly said, “I was trying to lower the number of businesses that defaulted on their insurance premiums. Another worker gave people the same treatment.” He added that a business owner had implored him to see if anything could be done about overdue insurance premiums.

In addition to action against the former collection section chief, the agency also handed a severe warning to a former worker in the same section who played a part in altering records under instruction from the collection chief.

http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20090801p2a00m0na010000c.html

Shakeup in tenant terms

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A shock wave hit the real estate industry when the Kyoto District Court ruled July 23 that an apartment tenant did not have to pay a fee to renew his lease, a fee landlords levy on average every two to three years.

This “koshin-ryo” charge demanded by landlords is an old custom in many parts of Japan. Many foreigners are surprised when asked to pay it because this custom does not exist in their home countries.

While real estate agencies try to play down the impact of the ruling because it does not automatically apply to all similar disputes, lawyers believe this will set a precedent for renters to refuse to pay landlords a fee they regard as over the top.

“I will use the ruling the Kyoto District Court handed down,” said Kyohei Niitsu, a lawyer at Niitsu Legal Visa Office in Tokyo. The firm specializes in advising foreigners.

“I will notify my clients who don’t know this, tell them they may not have to pay renewal fees and negotiate with their real estate agencies for them,” he said.

The renewal fee real estate agencies charge varies by prefecture. A survey by the Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Ministry found that 65 percent of real estate agencies in Tokyo charge an average of one month’s rent in renewal fees, while 90.1 percent in Kanagawa Prefecture charge 0.8 month’s rent and 55.1 percent in Kyoto Prefecture charge 1.4 month’s rent.

Many foreigners are not used to paying a renewal fee, let alone the other uniquely Japanese custom of “reikin” (“key money”) that’s paid when a renter moves in.

“Lots of my clients say it is ridiculous for landlords to charge a large lump sum (for key money and renewal fees), which is nonsense to foreigners,” said Edmond Courtroul, a lawyer registered in Texas who mainly deals with commercial clients rather than individuals. “Now the ruling is precedent, so they should take (renewal fees) out of contract.”

The survey by the land ministry found that half of the real estate agencies that responded claimed they charge the renewal fees and key money simply because it is a long-standing custom.

To be sure, in addition to the key money and renewal fees, many real estate agencies collect a deposit, typically worth one to four months’ rent, as insurance against a renter’s suddenly bolting without paying.

Landlords typically keep all the key money but split the renewal fee with the real estate agency.

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20090801f1.html

Gender equality long overdue / U.N. set to rap govt stance on women’s rights, marriage law, education

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The U.N. watchdog panel on gender equality is poised to issue recommendations to Japan in which it will address this nation’s delay in implementing policies to bring about equality between men and women.

The government should humbly accept the findings of the expert U.N. panel known as the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, and lawmakers are urged to buckle down and begin implementing a wide range of gender equality measures.

The pact that sets out the principles covering equality of the sexes–officially called the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women–was adopted by a meeting of the U.N. General Assembly in 1979. Japan ratified the convention in 1985.

Known as the women’s rights version of the Bill of Rights, the convention stipulates the equality of women and men in political and public activities, calls for the prohibition of sexual exploitation of women and inequality in access to education and employment, as well as discrimination on the basis of sex in marital and family relations.

Japan severely criticized

 Yoko Osawa, a member of a Japanese nongovernmental body called mNet-Information Network for Amending the Civil Code, who sat in on the committee session, said, “Most members of the Japanese government delegation made a point of repeating prepared, boilerplate explanations of systems and laws in response to the various questions posed by the CEDAW members.

“Several CEDAW members pulled the translation headphones out of their ears, apparently because they were so disgusted,” Osawa said.

As lawyer Mikiko Otani, an expert in international human rights law, put it, “The way the Japanese officials responded to the panel members should be considered a reflection of their lack of knowledge of the U.N. treaty and also Japan’s lack of a sense of responsibility as a signatory country to the treaty.”

“I think Japan, a country that seeks to hold a permanent seat on the U.N. Security Council, should be ashamed of being subject to such criticism from the gender equality panel,” she added.

The pact for abolishing discrimination against women has led Japan to enact a number of laws, including the Equal Employment Opportunity Law in 1985 and laws requiring both boys and girls to take a homemaking course in middle school and high school, enacted in 1993 and 1994, respectively.

Japan ranked 58th among 108 countries on the most recent U.N. index on women’s social participation, one of the the lowest among industrially advanced nations.

Highlighting the disparity between women and men in this nation, women account for less than 10 percent of the members of the House of Representatives, while women section chiefs in private sector companies stand at a mere 6.6 percent.

Optional Protocol left unratified

 Every one of this nation’s lawmakers should be held responsible for failing to pay due attention to the international gender equality treaty and related U.N. recommendations that have resulted in delays in ending the disparities that disadvantage women.

A legislator-sponsored bill calling for a revision of the Civil Code in response to CEDAW recommendations has been repeatedly presented to the Diet. But the bill that would delete provisions that discriminate against women has been scrapped every time without in-depth deliberation.

Japan’s failure to ratify the Optional Protocol on the convention on the elimination of discrimination against women also is being questioned by the international community.

http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/20090730TDY04302.htm

Panel urges tiny minimum wage raises

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Twelve prefectures will likely raise their minimum wage levels by as little as 2 yen and no higher than 30 yen an hour. The small increase reflects the grim economic situation.

A subcommittee of the Central Minimum Wages Council, an advisory panel to the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, proposed Tuesday the slight raise for the 12 prefectures, where minimum wage levels are lower than welfare benefit payments.

For the remaining 35 prefectures, the subcommittee stopped short of suggesting the margin of raises. They will either maintain the current minimum wage or make only a fractional increase.

If the panel’s recommendations are adopted, the national average floor wage–the lowest legally permitted wage–is expected to rise to 710-712 yen an hour, an increase of 7-9 yen.

http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY200907290068.html

Japan’s suicide rate accelerating towards record level

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The rise of Japan’s suicide rate is accelerating, with the number of suicides in June totaling 2,822, the National Police Agency (NPA) announced; partly as a result of the recession, it’s believed.

The total number of suicides during the first half of 2009 was 17,076, up by 768 compared to the same period last year. According to the NPA, 2,660 people took their own lives in January 2009, 2,482 in February, 3,084 in March, 3,048 in April, 2,980 in May and 2,822 in June, with each figure showing a year-on-year increase from 2008.

Males accounted for about 72 percent of all the suicides during the first half of 2009. The number increased by 712 compared to the same period last year, totaling 12,222 cases.

Annual suicide numbers have been exceeding 30,000 cases for 11 consecutive years since 1998. This year, it is projected to reach 34,152 cases — just shy of the 2003 record figure of 34,427 — if the monthly average remains constant at 2,846.

By area, Tokyo had the most suicides with 1,569. The area with the least was Tottori, with just 85.

“The soaring suicide rate reflects the government’s inability to provide necessary assistance to those needing help,” said Yasuyuki Shimizu, a representative from Lifelink, a nonprofit organization engaged in suicide prevention.

http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20090728p2a00m0na009000c.html

New law: no dues, no visa

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On a drab, rainy Sunday in June, a group of foreign workers gathered at the office of the National Union of General Workers Tokyo Nambu in Shimbashi to discuss an equally drab topic: social insurance. According to a new immigration law passed by the Diet earlier this month, foreign residents will be required to show proof of enrollment in Japan’s health insurance program in order to renew or apply for a visa after April 1, 2010.

A handful of attendees were young, but most were middle-aged or approaching retirement age. Many had been working in Japan for years and had never been told anything about insurance, while others were aware of the program but had been dissuaded by their employers from joining it.

Louis Carlet, deputy secretary of Nambu, laid it down for everyone in the room to understand. There are a few basic things that all foreigners in Japan have to know, he explained: first, that everyone over the age of 20 in Japan is required to enroll in an approved Japanese government health insurance scheme and pension fund. If you are under 75 and working at a company that employs more than five people, this most likely means the shakai hoken (social insurance) program; if you are unemployed, self-employed or retired, the equivalent system is the kokumin kenko hoken and kokumin nenkin (national health insurance and pension). The only people exempt are sailors, day laborers, and those working for companies employing less than five people, or for firms without a permanent address (e.g. a film set).

The two systems cover different ground, all of which is explained in detail at www.sia.go.jp/e/ehi.html. Roughly, shakai hoken consists of two parts: kenko hoken (health insurance), which covers 70 percent of your medical costs and 60 percent of lost wages due to illness, and kosei nenkin (pension insurance), which provides a pension after age 65 for those who have paid into the system. The two are inseparable, and anyone enrolled in shakai hoken through their employer automatically pays into both. The kokumin kenko hoken (national health insurance) and kokumin nenkin (national pension) package offers similar coverage but is not provided through an employer.

The bottom line is that all residents of Japan (except those mentioned above) have to be enrolled in one or other of the two systems. The revised visa laws, therefore, should pose no threat to anyone’s visa renewal, because every foreigner in Japan should already be enrolled.

However, the reality is that most foreigners in Japan do not have either form of insurance. For example, a 2004 survey by Hiroshi Kojima of the National Institute of Population and Social Security Research found that only 28.3 percent of Japanese Brazilians in Iwata City, Shizuoka Pref., had any kind of health insurance, and that of these only a third were enrolled in shakai hoken. Another survey in 2009 found that just one out of 27 manufacturing companies had enrolled its foreign employees in workers’ compensation, leaving thousands of foreigners ineligible for any form of assistance when the economic downturn hit Japan last year, leading to mass layoffs.

Foreign workers often hear a litany of reasons why they should not be enrolled in shakai hoken, or are simply not told about it at all. Employers would have a much tougher time leaving their Japanese staff off the system, argues Carlet, as many associate shakai hoken with a certain social status — those left out of the system tend to be in insecure employment such as day labor and very short-term contract work. For many Japanese workers, nonenrollment implies that their company either doesn’t value them as a long-term employee or simply doesn’t have the funds to cover the cost of insurance.

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/fl20090728zg.html

Immigration and Health Insurance

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Time is running out!

Recently announced changes to immigration guidelines link your visa to enrollment in government approved health insurance. This means kokumin kenko hoken or shakai hoken/shigaku kyosai (Employee’s health & Pension).

Read more

Landlords collecting renewal fees violates tenants’ rights

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In what experts termed a landmark ruling, the well-established practice of landlords collecting renewal fees in the housing rental industry was judged illegal Thursday and a violation of tenants’ rights.

The point of contention in the Kyoto District Court ruling Thursday was the “contract renewal fees” for renting houses and apartments, which tenants are obliged to pay their landlords every time their contracts are renewed.

In many cases, the fees are equal to two months’ rent and must be paid by lump sum, putting a heavy financial burden on tenants every few years, in addition to the “key money” that is required when a tenant first enters into a contract.

In the lawsuit, a Kyoto man had demanded that his landlord return 460,000 yen, comprising 110,000 yen in contract renewal fees and 350,000 yen in key money, based on the law to protect consumers in business deals.

Calling the fees a “unilateral infringement on consumer benefits,” presiding Judge Toshio Tsujimoto ruled that the practice has no legally justifiable grounds and ordered the landlord to return the full amount.

Legal experts said the ruling is rare in that it is based on the consumer protection law rather than the law to define the rights of landlords and tenants in house deals. The ruling is expected to affect similar lawsuits pending nationwide.

In April 2006, the man made a two-year contract to rent an apartment in the city and paid about ¥110,000 — the equivalent of two months’ rent — to his landlord in January 2008, when the initial contract approached renewal. But he terminated the contract four months later and vacated, the court said.

“Reasons for charging contract renewal fees must be clearly explained to tenants and agreed upon between the two sides,” the judge said.

Praising Thursday’s ruling, lawyers for the plaintiff told reporters later Thursday that the Kyoto case would become a significant step forward to reform the country’s housing rental industry, which they said has many traditional unwritten codes and rules not accompanied by clear explanations.

“Renewal fees are charged in a lump sum regardless of the span of contracts. In reality, landlords rarely give advance notice until a renewal approaches in a few months, and tenants are effectively forced to pay the fees,” they said in a statement.

People in the housing rental industry, which has already been forced to lower rents because of the recession and land price falls, were quick to slam the Kyoto court ruling.

“This case will surely affect our business,” one industry official said.

A spokesman at a Tokyo-based industry group supporting landlords justified the practice, saying renewal fees are part of funds for long-term repair of properties.

http://www.japantoday.com/category/national/view/court-rules-landlords-collecting-renewal-fees-violate-tenants-rights