My Vision No.42
2019.6

Reform in the Reiwa Era

Japan has entered the Reiwa era, taking a new era name to mark imperial succession for the firsttime in 30 years. As we ponder this new era, we are forced to concede that Japan’s future situation
is a very difficult one, encompassing as it does factors including an international situation
becoming increasingly unstable, further decline in the nation’s birthrate and aging of its
population, and the decline of its regional cities. In this issue of My Vision, we attempt toreconsider the issues facing Japan in this new era, and, looking towards the next 20 years, identify
the most important of these issues and the actions we must take in response.

About this Issue
Politics itself is the major unfinished business of the Heisei Era– Rebuilding party politics and becoming a true advanced problem-solving nation
Masaki Taniguchi

NIRA Executive Vice President, Professor, Graduate Schools for Law and Politics, The University ofTokyo
Keywords…Restructuring of international politics/economics, Fourth Industrial Revolution, declining
population, direction for regional areas, fiscal sustainability, pursuit of a policy mix, failure of Heisei
politics to take the right path

Expert Opinions
Reform in the Reiwa Era
What are the most important issues facing Japan in the next 20 years?
How should the nation respond?

The era of “zero-sum-type competition”

Putting knowledge obtained through AI towork

Akihiko Tanaka

Junichi Tsujii

President, National Graduate Institute for Policy
Studies
Keywords…From positive sum to zero sum
competition, new cold war, strengthening ofcooperation with a wide range of countries andmaintenance of US-Japan alliance, revitalizationof the nation

Director, Artificial Intelligence Research Center,
National Institute of Advanced Industrial Scienceand Technology
Keywords…Japanese model of AI development,
collaboration with AI, Japan’s strengths, respect
for the individual, the view from the ground

Maturing the symbiotic society through“Governance as a Service”

Overcoming the aging of Japanese society bymeans of a “medical macroeconomic slide”

Hiroya Masuda

Kazumasa Oguro

Adjunct Professor, Graduate School of Public
Policy, The University of Tokyo; former Minister ofInternal Affairs and Communications; former
Governor of Iwate Prefecture
Keywords…Lack of population to maintain local
communities, utilization of technology, GaaS,
integrated provision of administrative services,institution of resident self-government

Towards the joint creation of an “innovative
welfare state” by labor and management
Takashi Suganuma

Professor, College of Economics, Rikkyo University
Keywords…A welfare state that responds to socialchange and technological innovation, flexicurity,
promotion of innovation in voluntary
worker/employer framework

Professor, Faculty of Economics, Hosei University

Keywords…Realization of fiscal soundness, valid
long-term fiscal estimates, independent financial
institutions, a sustainable social security system,
a medical macroeconomic slideInterview period：March – April, 2019
Interviewer: Atsushi Inoue (NIRA Research Coordinator,
Researcher), Mari Kawamoto (NIRA Research
Coordinator, Researcher), Shota Watanabe(NIRA Research Coordinator, Researcher), andothersThis is a translation of a paper originally published in Japanese. NIRA bears full responsibility for the translation presented here.
Translated by Michael Faul.
Copyright Ⓒ 2019 by Nippon Institute for Research Advancement

My Vision No.42
2019.6
About this Issue

Politics Itself is the Major Unfinished Businessof the Heisei Era– Rebuilding Party Politics and Becoming a True Advanced Problem-solving Nation

Masaki Taniguchi
NIRA Executive Vice President,
Professor, Graduate Schools for Law
and Politics, The University of Tokyo

By adopting the imperial era name system, inparticular the practice of assigning one era name to one
emperor, the Japanese have given themselves theopportunity to deepen their thinking about the past andfuture of the world, the nation and society over the course of
the most appropriate timespan – neither as short as adecade nor as long as a century. Accordingly, in this firstissue of My Vision in the Reiwa Era, we are departing fromour normal focus on a single issue from a variety ofperspectives, seeking rather to take a bird’s-eye view of theissues that Japan will have to grapple with into the future,
and approaches to solving those issues.

What are globally shared issues?
The challenges that face us living in this new era include shared global issues and issues
that are unique to Japan.
The first of the shared issues that we face is structural changes in international politics andeconomy. The essence of the conflict between the US and a China that has become increasingly
confident as a result of economic development does not lie solely in the trade friction that has now
come to the surface, but also in competition for technological and military supremacy. With regard
to the course that Japan should pursue, being both an ally of the US and a neighbor of China,
Akihiko Tanaka, President of the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies, explains that thenation should expand the domain in which a liberal international order holds to the greatest extent
possible, for example through the CPTPP, a Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for TransPacific Partnership, and the Japan-EU Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA), while also, in thearea of security, maintaining alliances around the axis of the Japan-US relationship.
The second shared issue is the Fourth Industrial Revolution, the process of technologicalinnovation termed“Society 5.0”in Japan, and, within this, the strategy for the development ofartificial intelligence (AI). With regard to these issues, Junichi Tsujii, Director of the Artificial
Intelligence Research Center of the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science andTechnology, informs us that unlike the AI development strategy of China, which has strong
elements of government surveillance of the public, and the US, where AI development is driven by
the IT company GAFA and prioritizes profit, Japan, which has a certain advantage in respect forthe dignity of the individual and the utilization of opinions developed through experience on the
ground, has the chance to create a new technological society through a collaborative process
between humans and AI.

What are the unique issues facing Japan?
At the same time, the first of the unique issues facing Japan, or rather the first of the issues
that Japan is facing in advance of the rest of the world, is population decline. At present,
particularly in rural areas, population decline is becoming continuous and progressive, and thesituation is increasing in severity. It is said that the population of 50% of residential areas could
be halved by 2050. Considering the direction for Japan’s rural areas in this era of population
decline, Professor Hiroya Masuda, an Adjunct Professor at The University of Tokyo and the former
This is a translation of a paper originally published in Japanese. NIRA bears full responsibility for the translation presented here.
Translated by Michael Faul.
Copyright Ⓒ 2019 by Nippon Institute for Research Advancement

My Vision No.42
2019.6
Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications, advocates relaxing the principle of selfgovernment by local public bodies that has existed up to the present, and solving the issues
associated with population decline through Governance as a Service (GaaS), proposing that a
considerable amount of public services, “despite the fact that they have a strong public character,
could be conducted not by local governments but by entities such as companies.”
Fiscal sustainability is also a major problem for Japan as an“advanced problem-solving
nation.”During the Heisei Era, the ratio of social security expenditure to GDP increased rapidly,
but at the same time, the increase in the ratio of national burden to GDP increased only slightly.
As a result, Japan now holds an enormous outstanding government debt, in excess of 200% of GDP.
Surveying this extremely harsh reality, Professor Kazumasa Oguro of Hosei University proposes
the establishment of an independent fiscal oversight organization in order to prevent a politicallymotivated optimistic slant being placed on the economic outlook, and the introduction of a “medical
macroeconomic slide,” which would take demographic changes into consideration and control
growth in medical fees in the medical care system for citizens aged 75 and above.
As we have seen up to this point, these issues are not independent, but are in fact mutuallyrelated. From this perspective, one more point that needs to be considered is the pursuit of a policy
mix that promotes economic growth through the rejuvenation of industry while also securing
people’s livelihoods. Taking the system of “flexicurity” in effect in Denmark as a reference,
Professor Takashi Suganuma of Rikkyo University emphasizes the necessity for the realization of
fluidity in the labor market by means of organic cooperation between policy areas, including social
security policy, industry policy and education policy (flexibility), while also establishingmechanisms to guarantee livelihoods (security).

Reiwa is the era in which to remake party politics and realize optimal policy
implementation
The five experts interviewed in this issue of My Vision are each experts in different fields. The
awareness of the issues that they present has by now been widely shared throughout Japanese society,and their proposed solutions are in no way eccentric, but are rather well-thought out views that should
be considered to be generally accepted opinion. Nevertheless, a politics that has not been able to travel
this royal road may be the major unfinished business of the Heisei Era. Leaving out extreme
movements such as populism, the margin of policy choice in the proposals made by the five experts inthis issue is limited. To take flexicurity as an example, while sharing policy objectives, increasing theflexibility of the labor market = emphasizing the logic of the management side, and enhancing functions
to secure livelihoods = adopting a focus on the labor side. In other words, there is no more difference
than whether one approaches from the Shizuoka Prefecture side or the Yamanashi Prefecture side
when climbing Mt. Fuji.
If this is the case, then we must pursue the remaking of party politics, creating a system in which
the ruling and opposition parties retain the differences in values on which they are based, while also
sharing a broad orientation and producing results on this basis. In order to do so, we will needmechanisms that mobilize the best of the worlds of industry, academia, public administration, finance,labor and the media, and citizens spanning multiple generations, allowing cooperation with bipartisan
Diet members who share a sense of crisis in order to spur public debate and provide support for
responsible action by the ruling and opposition parties from both the political arena and the private
sector.
Can we make Japan, an advanced nation that faces issues, into an advanced nation that solves
issues, and pass this form of the nation on to the next generation? This is a question of the resolve ofeach of us living in the Reiwa Era.
Professor Taniguchi is an Executive Vice President of NIRA and a Professor in the Graduate Schools for Law and Politics
of the University of Tokyo. He holds a Ph.D. in law and politics from The University of Tokyo. His areas of specialization
are political science and contemporary Japanese political discourse.
This is a translation of a paper originally published in Japanese. NIRA bears full responsibility for the translation presented here.
Translated by Michael Faul.
Copyright Ⓒ 2019 by Nippon Institute for Research Advancement

My Vision No.42
2019.6
Expert Opinions

The Era of “zero-sum-type competition”
The Heisei Era offered 30 years of “positive sum” outcomes,
allowing nations to mutually reap benefits against a backgroundof high growth internationally. However, there is a strong
possibility that the Reiwa era will be an era of “zero-sum-typecompetition,” in which a gain for one nation means a loss foranother. Up to the present, the world has shared the belief that
China’s economic development would contribute to world growth.
But at the same time, the axis of competition has shifted to a
relationship between the US and China that can be considered
Akihiko Tanaka“a new Cold War”, and this is slowing down the world economy
President, National Graduate
as a whole, strengthening the elements of zero-sum-type
Institute for Policy Studies
competition by shrinking economies. The conflict between the
US and China involves not only trade imbalances and competition in the area of advanced
technologies, but also fundamental political and governance-related issues. Ultimately, this is asecurity issue, but the conflict is not an easy one to resolve.
Japan is a nation that has benefited from world peace and growth, and it would be best forJapan to minimize factors that inhibit peace and growth. From considerations of national interest,in future it will be essential to strengthen cooperation, economic transactions and informationexchange not merely with the US, but with a wide range of nations and regions, including Europe,
Australia and India. We should make the domain in which the liberal international order holds as
wide as possible, even if the friction between the US and China should worsen. From thisperspective, Japan can be congratulated for having promoted a TPP even without the US, andhaving concluded an EPA with the EU.
As US and Europe protectionism intensifies, it is to be hoped that Japan will take the leadin maintaining a liberal international order. At the same time, taking factors such as the USChina conflict and the situation on the Korean Peninsula into consideration, ensuring security
and maintaining alliances around the axis of Japan-US relations will continue to be as importantto Japan as maintaining its own security capabilities. Power and vigor as a nation will be essential
to Japan’s ability to take a leading role in maintaining the liberal international order and, in
addition, ensure national security.
In order to realize this, the first essential thing is to make use of diverse human resources.
It will be necessary to create a framework that makes it possible for women, the elderly and foreign
workers to flourish in their work and establish mechanisms that promote smooth coexistence inthe workplace. In addition, in order for Japan to seize the right to speak and the right to take theinitiative on the world stage, it will be important for the nation to catch up and take the lead inscience and technology, in particular in the competition over information technology, which
represents the main battleground in the friction between China and the US. To lag behind in
information technology competition would represent nothing less than a threat to Japan’s security
and democracy.
Professor Tanaka is an international political scientist. He offers big-picture analyses of the state of the world from aunique perspective, based on objective findings. He graduated from the MIT Department of Political Science with a Ph.D.
in political science. Professor Tanaka took his present position in 2017, after serving as the Director of, and a professor
in, The University of Tokyo’s Institute for Advanced Studies on Asia, the Executive Vice President of The University ofTokyo, and the President of the Japan International Cooperation Agency. He also serves concurrently as the Director ofJapan for UNHCR. Professor Tanaka was awarded the Shiju Hosho (a medal of honor awarded by the Emperor) in 2012.
This is a translation of a paper originally published in Japanese. NIRA bears full responsibility for the translation presented here.
Translated by Michael Faul.
Copyright Ⓒ 2019 by Nippon Institute for Research Advancement

My Vision No.42
2019.6
Expert Opinions

Putting Knowledge obtained through AI to Work
Integrating knowledge about AI to advance technologicaldevelopment in new directions: this is the model that Japan
should be aiming towards. In the field of information technology,
US IT companies dominate the world, and China is creating ahuge industry founded on an enormous domestic market. WhichAI strategies should Japan adopt in response to this scenario?
Japan’s standing within the arena of development of AI
technologies is in question here.
The development of AI cannot be separated from the senseof values of the country in which it is being implemented (theJunichi Tsujii
question of what type of society we wish to create), from culture,
Director, Artificial Intelligenceand from regional characteristics. AI developed in China tends
Research Center, National
Institute of Advanced Industrial
to have strong elements of public surveillance, which is
Science and Technology
something unfamiliar to Japanese society. AI development in
the US, which is being driven by the huge IT companies GAFA,
tends to prioritize profit. Conversely, in Japan and Europe, where the highest priority is placed on
the dignity of the individual, the development of AI can perhaps move in the direction of helping
and protecting people, rather than being used for surveillance or profits. Above all, the Japaneseare conscious of affirming that there is something that transcends humanity. They also naturally
accept the way of thinking that AI should be seen as a partner. The Japanese should, therefore, beparticularly well suited to the collaborative work of learning the benefits offered by AI while alsoteaching AI.
The relevant data is said to be controlled by GAFA, but in reality, this is not the case. Using
smart sensors, it is possible to collect any amount of onsite data, and it is easier to collect publicdata, such as information relating to medical and nursing care in Japan. Creative discussions thatbreak through paradigms – “If it was like this, it would be better” – have flourished on the groundin Japan. Creativity is innately something that is possessed not only by particularly talented
researchers and artists, but also by ordinary people, and those engaged in work in specific fields.
At manufacturing sites, for example, engineers and AI will interact to facilitate automation of theskilled techniques conferred by intuition and experience. The opinions obtained at these sites
through the collaborative work with AI will be utilized in technological development. As part ofthis process, the scope of application of automation will expand, and further new technologies will
be born.
I believe that Japan, possessing the cultural and social strengths of a respect for the dignityof the individual, together with the ability to incorporate opinions formed at actual sites, will becapable of creating a better future for AI.

Having realized pioneering outcomes in the field of intelligent informatics, particularly in research into natural language
processing, and having originated novel methods of text mining, Professor Tsujii is highly regarded internationally as a
researcher. His fields of specialization are AI, text mining, computational linguistics, machine translation, and the studyof language processing. He is a graduate of Kyoto University, and holds a doctorate in engineering. Professor Tsujii took
up his present position in 2015, following periods as an Associate Professor at Kyoto University, a Professor at the
University of Manchester, a Professor in The University of Tokyo’s Graduate School, and a Principal Researcher for
Microsoft Research Asia (Beijing). He serves concurrently as a Professor at the University of Manchester, and is the
Chairman of the International Committee on Computational Linguistics. He is the recipient of numerous awards,
including the Shiju Hosho.
This is a translation of a paper originally published in Japanese. NIRA bears full responsibility for the translation presented here.
Translated by Michael Faul.
Copyright Ⓒ 2019 by Nippon Institute for Research Advancement

My Vision No.42
2019.6
Expert Opinions

Maturing the Symbiotic Society through“Governance as a Service”
In the Reiwa era, the decline in the working-age population ofJapan’s regional areas will accelerate, and the lack of sufficient
population to maintain local communities will become a conspicuous
issue. In 2050, the population of 50% of Japan’s inhabited regional
areas will decline by half or more, and 20% of these will become
uninhabited. Issues including depopulation, the aging of
infrastructure, and the presence of mobility-impaired residents will
become increasingly severe. However, most of the issues facing
regional areas that have been considered intractable will be able tobe solved by the aggressive application of various technologies.
For example, the problem of the mobility impaired could be
Hiroya Masuda
solved by Mobility as a Service (MaaS), the provision of mobility
Adjunct Professor, Graduate
services using automated driving technologies. MaaS is a new
School of Public Policy, Theconcept that understands mobility as an integrated service, whether
University of Tokyo; former
the managing entity is public or private. If it becomes possible to
Minister of Internal Affairs andoffer a range of services including ride sharing and on-demand buses
Communications; former
using automated driving technologies, the range of activities
Governor of Iwate Prefecture
available to mobility-impaired elderly people would increase
dramatically.
I believe that it is essential for us to embody this concept in all areas of administrative services, i.e.
to realize “Governance as a Service (GaaS).” If administrative services could be provided to residents
in an integrated fashion, it would not matter whether the provider was the national government, a
local government, or an official private sector entity. I believe that the era is approaching in which alarge number of public services will be provided not by local governments but by entities such ascompanies that have an extremely strong public service character. If GaaS can be realized, thenorganizational autonomy, the principle by which local governments are independent entities and haveoperated local public administration according to their own intentions and based on their own
responsibility, may have reached the end of its role.
Into the future, the question as to how we will establish the autonomy of local residents that will
maintain regional public services will become increasingly important. Regional services such as bus
companies and financial enterprises are losing participating businesses, and the only way to maintainthese services will be to allow the involvement of monopolistic enterprises. In place of this,representatives of residents and local government should actively participate in management, andmonitor the situation to ensure that fees do not become unfairly high. The symbiotic society, in which
community functions will be enhanced and citizens will mutually support each other while improving
their regions, will become a greater focus than it has been up to the present. We should also increase
the fluidity of work styles among local public officials, allowing them to “work on public affairs in themorning and perform other jobs in the afternoon.” The realization of increased transparency in
information and the maintenance of fora that allow communication to be deepened through theparticipation of local residents is the steady path towards the maturation of a symbiotic society, but it
will ultimately be the fastest one.
Professor Masuda specializes in public policy and contemporary administration. As the Governor of Iwate Prefecture andthe Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications, he focused his energies on real issues affecting regional areas,
working at the very ground of public policy. His concrete and realistic proposals for the promotion of regional
revitalization in Japan have influenced the formation of policy. Professor. Masuda entered the Ministry of Construction(now the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism) after graduating from The University of Tokyo’s
Faculty of Law. Before taking his present position, he served in a variety of capacities, including as Governor of Iwate
Prefecture, Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications and Minister of State for Special Missions. Professor.
Masuda also serves as an advisor to Nomura Research Institute. He is also the Chairman of the Japan Policy Council
and a member of the Headquarters for Overcoming Population Decline and Vitalizing Local Economy in Japan.

This is a translation of a paper originally published in Japanese. NIRA bears full responsibility for the translation presented here.
Translated by Michael Faul.
Copyright Ⓒ 2019 by Nippon Institute for Research Advancement

My Vision No.42
2019.6
Expert Opinions

Overcoming the Aging of Japanese Society by means of a“Medical Macroeconomic Slide”
As Japan’s birthrate declines and its population ages andshrinks, the nation’s fiscal problems are becoming increasingly severe.
Since the collapse of the bubble in the early 1990s, the fiscal deficit
has become chronic, and there has been a continuing increase in thenation’s outstanding debt. In order to promote fiscal soundness in the
new era, it will be necessary to discuss reforms on the basis of reliable
estimates that prudently and steadily forecast the nation’s future
macroeconomic and fiscal status. However, even the low growthbaseline case of the Cabinet Office’s medium- to long-term economic
estimates specifies a nominal growth rate of 1.5% in fiscal 2028, afigure that considerably exceeds the 0.4% average nominal growth
Kazumasa Oguro
rate for about the past 20 years. In order to prevent an optimistic slant
Professor, Faculty ofon the economic outlook from political motivations, the advanced
Economics, Hosei University
nations have established fiscal oversight agencies that function at a
specific distance from the political arena. Representative examples include the UK’s Office for Budget
Responsibility, Holland’s Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis, and the US Congressional Budget Office.
It is necessary to create such an organization in Japan, and to provide it with the authority to makevalid long-term fiscal estimates.
It will also be important to consider how to control the frame of public expenditure. Over thecourse of the next several years, Japan’s baby boom generation will become “latter-stage elderly (75years and older),” and the aging of the nation’s population will advance one stage further. Under thepresent system, increases in expenditure on social security benefits will be unavoidable. In spite of thefact that per-capita medical expenses increase with age, because the percentage burden to be borne by
the patient at the payment window is lower for the elderly than for the working generations, significant
increases in expenditure on medical benefits is predicted. Naturally, it will be necessary to increase theconsumption tax rate, but at the same time, we must also consider the creation of a sustainable social
security system.
I would therefore like to propose the introduction of a “medical macro-economic slide,” based on
the macroeconomic slide mechanism that automatically adjusts the level of pension benefits in responseto economic and social conditions such as the aging of the population. This would be a mechanism thattakes factors such as the demographic makeup of the population into consideration and functions tocontrol growth in medical fees in the Latter-stage Elderly Healthcare System (for citizens aged 75 andabove), maintaining the ratio of medical expenditure to GDP at a fixed level(*). The introduction of thismechanism would make it possible to stabilize finances for health insurance-covered medical treatment.
Because the burden to be borne by the patient would be proportional to the cost of the treatment, there
would be no substantive increase in the burden at the time of payment. There may, of course, be abacklash from medical institutions against control of increases in medical fees. However, if expenses
can be reduced by means of technological innovation, it will not be necessary to reduce labor expenses,
which account for approximately half of medical expenses. It is possible to decrease medical costs byintroducing ICT to the field and achieving increased efficiency, and the government should be working
to establish an environment that promotes this.
(*) With regard to compensation for medical services, treatment fees will be revised to the standard level in the previous
fiscal year minus a certain percentage (the adjustment rate). The adjustment rate will be determined with considerationof factors including the decline in the working population, the increase in the average lifespan, and the status of theeconomy. As a result, the natural increase in medical fees as a result of aging, etc. will be controlled.
Professor Oguro’s main research areas are demographics, public finance and social security and issues related tointergenerational fairness. He completed the doctoral course at Hitotsubashi University’s Graduate School of Economics,
and holds a doctorate in economics. After entering the Ministry of Finance, he served in a variety of positions, including
Assistant Judicial Examiner in the Secretarial Division of the Minister’s Secretariat, Assistant Director of the
Enforcement Division of the Customs and Tariff Bureau and Research Fellow in the Policy Research Institute. He took
his present position after serving in roles including Associate Professor at Hitotsubashi University. Professor Oguro isalso a member of numerous government committees, including the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare’s HealthCare 2035 committee.
This is a translation of a paper originally published in Japanese. NIRA bears full responsibility for the translation presented here.
Translated by Michael Faul.
Copyright Ⓒ 2019 by Nippon Institute for Research Advancement

My Vision No.42
2019.6
Expert Opinions

Towards the Joint Creation of an “Innovative
Welfare State” by Labor and Management
The welfare state was created in the 20th century withthe goal of guaranteeing the standard of living of national
citizens. But the future welfare state will be required to flexibly
respond to social changes and also to contribute to technologicalinnovation. As we proceed into the 21st century, the northern
European welfare state is transforming into the “innovative
welfare state.” Denmark, for example, while maintaining an
advanced welfare state, is working to realize sustainableeconomic growth via innovation, and has created a prosperous
society with a low level of social disparity and a high level ofTakashi Suganuma
happiness among citizens.
Professor, College of
Economics, Rikkyo University“Flexicurity” can be pointed to as one of the reasons that
Denmark has been able to transform itself into an innovative
welfare state. This is a system that balances flexibility in the employment market allowing
workers to easily leave or change their jobs with the security provided by a generous social security
system. And the system is indeed generous: for example, if a worker becomes unemployed, he or
she is guaranteed unemployment benefits for two years, at 90% of their original wage.
The foundation that enables flexicurity is labor-management relations. Labor unions andmanagement bodies work together to form the framework of the labor market. For example, thestandard working conditions for each job type are determined voluntarily in discussions between
labor and management, making it possible for them to be rapidly adjusted in response to changes
in society. Further, labor and management jointly develop vocational training programs, andstrategically create new jobs and occupations. Autonomous frameworks of this type developed bylabor and management increase the abilities of all individuals involved, create the desire to takeup the challenge of new jobs, and generate innovation. Even if a worker becomes unemployed,
their wage is not immediately cut off, and they are able to receive vocational training and have an
extremely high chance of finding another job. Because of this, they do not experience anxiety overmaintaining their lifestyle. This can be seen as a splendid example of the fusion of social security,
education, and industry policy.
In Japan, there is no framework for cooperation between labor and management, and labormanagement relations do not provide a mechanism for the generation of innovation. The reason
for this is that neither labor nor management has experience of labor unions organized by job type,and have been unable to break away from company-centered labor-management relations. Japan’s
traditional employment practices – lifetime employment, promotion based on seniority, companybased unions – are gradually crumbling in the 21st century, but we have not yet created a neworder for labor-management relations. Labor and management must commence discussions
towards the creation of labor-management relations suited to an innovative welfare state.
Specializing in the study of economic policy and Danish social policy, Professor Suganuma conducts research concerning
the sustainability of the welfare state against the background of globalization and population aging. He is advancing
consideration of measures to rebuild Japan’s social security system and economic policy and public finance that will
support a welfare state. Professor Suganuma holds a Ph.D. in economics from The University of Tokyo. He took his
present position in 2005, following terms as an Assistant Professor at Shinshu University and Rikkyo University, andserved as the head of Rikkyo University’s College of Economics from 2017 to March 2019.

This is a translation of a paper originally published in Japanese. NIRA bears full responsibility for the translation presented here.
Translated by Michael Faul.
Copyright Ⓒ 2019 by Nippon Institute for Research Advancement