Poverty in Japan: A Simple Look at the Data
Justin Aukema 15 May 2024 Previously I wrote about the ‘ Structure of Modern Japanese Capitalism ’ and its future. In that article I analyzed some of the historical background to poverty in Japan in the modern era. I have also highlighted some of the effects of neoliberalism from the 1980s in Japan in video lectures and, more recently, looked at the damaging effects of Japan’s Covid policies on the working class. My argument has been simply that poverty and inequality have been consistent features of Japanese capitalism and have increased since the 1980s. Yet I have also been criticized for not yet demonstrably proving how Japan is ‘objectively’ ‘poor’ with empirical data and on a global scale. Part of this criticism is I believe unfounded since historical facts and data are objectively empirical. The crises of neoliberalism and Covid also were also pivotal junctures which exposed the inherent vulnerability of the Japanese working class. At the same time there is always room for furt
