Japan's economic growth has enjoyed the longest expansion since the World War II, but not everyone is smiling amid the economic recovery.Kaori Murano may be in a minority but others like her in Japan's emerging community of urban poor are not benefiting from the distribution of wealth and cling on to what they can scrape together every day. The single mother living in Tokyo juggles two jobs: administration work and ad-posting. With average of three hours of sleep a day, she receives an annual income of 2.16 million yen ($18,570), or about a third of the average household income in one of the world's most-expensive cities. The government also gives her 100,000 yen for child support, but she still finds herself with the equivalent of $5 a day in her wallet. She sometimes only has water and flour to feed her three daughters, she says. When looking to the future, she cannot help but pull her hair in trying to make ends meet. 'There is only despair waiting on us,' the woman in her early 30s told DPA. The government has been discussing reductions to social benefits to fix its massive deficit accumulated over the years. It has already cut child support to single-mother households, and now welfare assistance for low-income residents is at risk. 'We get the impression that the government is trying to cut us loose,' Murano said. 'If the government truly intends to help us become financially independent, it should provide the minimum security so that we do not have to worry about ending up on the streets with children in our arms.' More than 1.47 million people received welfare assistance from the government as of last year, up 60 percent, in 10 years, according to the ministry. And they fear that they will lose even basic needs such as shelter, food and clothing. The number of welfare recipients has continued to rise since 1995, shortly after Japan's economic bubble burst. Some economists say there will be no major cuts in social contributions soon. The government of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe would not worsen the current situation, according to Martin Schulz, senior economist at Fujitsu Research Institute. But he says the income gap will spread wider. To narrow the income gap, there needs to be a redistribution of opportunities, Schulz said. Japan's estimated 640,000 young jobless are also facing a similar situation. The Abe government has decided to double the job centres by 2007 to get more young people to land regular employment. But some at the bottom like Murano remain skeptical. 'There is no doubt that we have full motivation to work,' the Tokyo resident said. 'But we need to be sure that our financial burden is lifted and basic demand is met before we can spend time to search better-paying job.'
Japan Herald, Monday 25th December, 2006 IANS
