ABSTRACT
As Gregory Kasza describes in the preceding chapter, Japan developed all of the major components of a European-style welfare state over the course of the twentieth century, including programs providing universal health care coverage and pensions for all. The core programs grew more generous over time, and Japan actually added a new layer of protection for older citizens in 2000—long-term care insurance (LTCI)—that was just then being pioneered by Germany. By the end of the first decade of the twenty-first century, therefore, Japan’s social policies for the elderly were among the most generous in the world.
