Year	Prime Minister	Minister of Health and Welfare	Minister of Labour	Background to the Era	Measures, etc.
-1998	Mirayama	Ide	Hamamoto	1994 Aging rate exceeds 14%	1994 Pension system reform (review of the Old-Age Employees' Pension for people in their early 60s)
1995 Great Hanshin/Awaji Earthquake	1994 Formulation of the Angel Plan
1994 Formulation of the New Gold Plan
1994 New 10-Year Strategy to overcome Cancer
1994 Amendment to the Act on Stabilization of Employment of Elderly Persons (mandatory 60-year-old retirement age; obliging employers to endeavor to continue employment up to 65 years old)
1994 Amendment to the Employment Insurance Act (establishment of continued employment benefit for old age and child-care leave benefit)
1994 Act on Advancement of Project for Quality Management of Raw Water
1995 Act on Support for the Atomic Bomb Victims
1995 Act on the Promotion of Sorted Collection and Recycling of Containers and Packaging
1995 Formulation of the Government Action Plan for Persons with Disabilities
1995 Amendment to the Mental Health Act (establishment of the system to provide a health and welfare handbook for people with mental disorders; change of the title into the Act on Mental Health and Welfare for the Mentally Disabled)
1995 Amendment to the Child Care Leave Act (establishment of family-care leave system; change of the title into the Child Care and Family Care Leave Act)
1995 New comprehensive employment measures
Hashimoto (Ryutaro)	Kan	Nagai	Social security reform	1996 Abolishment of the Leprosy Prevention Act
1996 Amendment to the Pharmaceutical Affairs Act (improvement of measures to ensure drug safety)
Koizumi (J)	Okano	Currency crises in Asia	1997 Amendment to the Waste Management Act (clarification of procedures for establishing facilities; Countermeasures against illegal dumping, etc.)
1997 Psychiatric Social Workers Act
1997 Amendment to the Child Welfare Act (child care system reform)
1997 Amendment to the Health Insurance Act (80% benefits for the insured)
1997 Organ Transplantation Act
1997 Long-Term Care Insurance Act
1997 Amendment to the Act on Equal Employment Opportunity and Treatment between Men and Women (to prohibit discrimination against women)
1998 Agreement between Japan and Germany on social security signed (Effective on February 1, 2000)
1998 Infectious Disease Prevention Act
1998 Comprehensive Plans for vitalizing employment
Obuchi	Miyashita	Amari	1999 International Year of Older Persons	1999 Emergency employment measures
1999 Formulation of the new Angel Plan
1999 Amendment to the Psychiatric Social Workers Act (to add home help and short stay services to in-home welfare programs; clarification of requirements for involuntary hospitalization for medical care and protection)
2000 Agreement between Japan and United Kingdom on social security signed (Effective on February 1, 2001)
2000 Pension system reform (adjustment of total benefit amount growth, etc.)
2000 Amendment to the Medical Practitioners Act (clinical training became mandatory)
2000 Social Welfare Act
Mori	Niwa (Y)	Makino	2000 Act on the Succession to Labour Contracts	2000 Child Abuse Prevention Act
2000 Amendment to the Child Allowance Act (extension of benefit period up to before compulsory education)
Tsushima	Yoshikawa