Japanese welfare recipients sliced to the bone by cuts

Asia-Pacific Features

Jun 20, 2008, 7:10 GMT

Tokyo - One bad apple in Japan's welfare system may have spoiled the future of those dependent on government payments for food, medicine and hospital care. The country's welfare ministry has decided to put transportation subsidies under scrutiny after a large-scale subsidy abuse case. A couple in northern Hokkaido was arrested in February for swindling the government out of more than 200 million yen (1.85 million dollars) of welfare assistance. The couple, who face prison sentences of 10 to 15 years, had claimed they needed the money for regular doctors visits. After the Hokkaido arrest, the welfare ministry issued a notice to local governments effective July 1 to restrict travel expenses for doctors visits in 'remote areas' where transport costs were high. Many recipients may be denied their medical transportation fees, averaging 2,000 to 3,000 yen a month. Welfare recipients and their supporters on Thursday filed a demand with the Japanese government to annul the decision and continue providing medical transportation reimbursements. To have enough money to go for treatments, Masahiko Hikasa, 47, who is blind and has only his thumbs and one leg after a car accident, said he would have to cut down on his meals to save transportation costs of about 2,400 yen a month. Reducing the cost of his daily meals to 700 yen a day by eating mainly instant noodles, Hikasa said he could then continue to go to regular rehabilitation sessions needed for his prosthetic leg and care for skin transplants. 'I know I may be of no use to society, but I'd like to feel that even someone like me has the right to live,' Hikasa said in tears. Hajime Yamamoto of Disabled Peoples International raised concerns that the mental health and physical condition of Japan's 1.51 million welfare recipients were already worsening while they tried to squeeze food and doctors visits from the welfare ministry's subsidies. 'I may be hospitalized tomorrow because I am concerned whether I can continue regular psychiatric counseling sessions with my doctor,' a woman in her 40s said. She also suffers from asthma. She would have to cut two days of meals to generate the 2,000-yen transportation cost to see her counselor, she said. 'The welfare subsidies are supposed to protect our lives, but I don't see how my life is protected right now,' a single mother of two children said. She was concerned whether she would be reimbursed for transportation costs in case her children fell sick. Japan's welfare ministry came under attack last year when a 56-year-old man starved to death in the southern city of Kita-Kyushu. The welfare recipient left a note saying he only wanted to eat a rice ball - which costs about 100 yen. A local government had cancelled his subsidies several months before his death. The transportation cuts, which critics say amount to a de-facto slashing of welfare payments, also raises fears of driving up the country's already high suicide rates. A National Police Agency survey on Thursday showed that the number of suicides in 2007 was the second highest in history at 33,093. The number exceeded 30,000 for the 10th year in a row. The agency's survey said 6,060 people committed suicide because of depression while 5,240 killed themselves because of physical ailments. About 3,110 suicides were triggered by financial concerns.

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Japanese welfare recipients sliced to the bone by cuts

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