Cries of Silence: Child Poverty in Japan

This opinion piece, compared to past weeks, had a much more personal feel to it. The author, Masanori Mochida (President and Representative Director of Goldman Sachs Japan), details the child poverty crisis in Japan. He explains the current situation; it’s dire repercussions, and deceptive nature.

The most publicized facts about Japan are its booming economy, work ethic, and emphasis on stirring growth of a younger generation. With all of these values directly benefiting children, the natural conclusion is that they are in good hands. This is even true for Japanese people, as Mochida illustrates through his personal anecdote. It took a visit to a Japanese children’s home for Mochida, about 25 years into his career, to realize the severity of the issue. To put into graspable statistics, one in seven Japanese children lives in relative poverty. The number skyrockets to one in two for single-parent households.

Mochida presents many analyses that give perspective into the gravity of the issue: the benefits of attending to it, and the consequences of neglect. For example, tackling the situation would boost domestic consumption and add to the nation’s declining taxpayer base. On the contrary, ignoring them will lead to decreased work force and will eventually break an already overloaded social security system. The most striking statistic follows this same vein: providing training to youngsters that leads to employment would lead to a net societal benefit of 70-100 million yen. The cost of not providing such training is 50-60 million yen. Thus, there is an effective 120-160 million yen, plus economic stability, dependent on the future generation.

Mochida also describes current efforts being made in response to the crisis. This includes many government-backed initiatives, collaborations with nonprofits, and pushes in local government to be more involved.  All of these are proving to be effective, as economic analyses show a promising trend. However, as has been made evidently clear, this is no invitation to ease up and lose intensity.

Mochida concludes by saying that this is not an individual issue, in terms of both the victims and benefactors.  This is a longstanding issue, and one that requires a sustained effort. This all begins with one thing: awareness.