ABSTRACT
This chapter clarifies the changes in support for governmental redistribution with a focus on the effects of the structural reform the Japanese labour market underwent from the late 1990s until the middle of the 2000s. From the late 1990s onwards, Japanese society has witnessed a dramatic increase in non-regular employment and a rise in income inequality. The employment regime in Japan is divided between large firms and high productivity industries like the automobile industry and small- and mid-sized firms, or low productivity industries, like construction and retail sales. One of the classic theories of welfare attitudes is self-interest theory. It assumes that people support the welfare state if they get more benefits from it than they pay into it. Thus, those who are socioeconomically vulnerable, such as the poor, the unemployed or the unskilled, tend to be supporters of governmental redistribution.
