Extreme Poverty in Japan - 1501 Words

Introduction Friday 20 February 2012, Saitama, Japan: three members of the same family are found dead in their apartment building in Saitama, north of Tokyo. The victims were found decomposed lying on futons together with the carcass of their pet cat. The fridge was found empty and one-yen coin seemed to be the only money they possessed. The victims were an elderly couple in there 60s and their son, thought to be in his 30s. The cause of death of the family is unknown, however officials believe they either died of starvation of committed suicide. According to the health ministry 700 people have died of starvation since 2000. Japan enjoys one of the highest standards of living in the world. How can a family die unnoticed of poverty†¦show more content†¦Secondly about half of the increase in poverty rate is because of the increase in single-person households, in Japan about 7% of the working class population lives alone. However looking at the OECD of 11%, this percentage of people living alone is still quite low. Imagine Japan’s poverty rate if its proportion of single households were the same as the OECD average. Also Japan is not the only country with an ageing population, so what are the reasons underneath the numbers that Japan’s poverty rate is rising? First, unemployment is an obvious cause of poverty. Since the number of people who are unemployed has risen, the number of people living in poverty has also increased. In the 1990s Japan’s economic bubble burst and the economy contracted, because of this economic recession a lot of people became unemployed. This period has become known as the Lost Decade. The Lost Decade is the time between the burst of the Japanese economic bubble up until 2000. Sometimes the decade from 2001 to 2010 is also included. Although the economy recovered in the 2000s the employment levels have still fallen compared to the 80s. Another result of the Lost Decade is an increase in people with temporary jobs. The large companies in Japan replaced the jobs that used to be for life with non-traditional jobs. These jobs have lower wages and fewer benefits than regular jobs. The increase of people with non-regular jobs leads to the rise in poverty. The company’s attitude towards regularShow MoreRelatedObjectives Of The Millennium Development Goals1148 Words   |  5 Pagesachieve the goals that are to reduce poverty, focus on health, improved education, and the protection of environment. Also, there are 8 goals that have specific targets and dates for achieving those targets. In this essay, the first development goal, ‘To eradicate extreme poverty and hungry’ is going to be discussed and evaluate this economic issue in Eastern Asia. 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