Growing group of Japanese feel lower class


TOKYO (Reuters) -- More than a third of Japanese now believe they are lower class, a survey showed on Monday, as Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi faced criticism that his reforms have widened the gulf between rich and poor.

Asked whether they considered themselves upper, middle or lower class, 37 percent of respondents to a poll published in the Nihon Keizai newspaper said they saw themselves as lower class, compared with 20 percent in a similar poll carried out in 1987. Opposition politicians have bombarded Koizumi with criticism, saying his structural reforms are dividing a society that once prided itself on egalitarianism into a land of economic "winners" and "losers."

A separate poll in the Asahi Shimbun at the weekend found 74 percent of respondents believed income disparity was growing and 69 percent were uneasy about the situation.

More than 80 percent were worried that they personally might run out of money, the Asahi said.

The Nikkei poll found 54 percent of respondents considered themselves middle class, down from 75 percent in 1987.

Only 1 percent of respondents felt they were upper class in this year's poll, compared with 2 percent in the 1987 poll.

http://www.tehrantimes.com/Description.asp...006&Cat=5&Num=3

does that mean they feel humbled towards other races? doubt it. polls are always inaccurate imo.

Thats crazy.

They're not poor.

they are a bunch of modest people.

they think they're poor. or they're actually poor . eh...

man...some ppl always complain, complain, and complain. They should be happy that they're not as bad as some of the other Asian countries out there, where most of the people are starving and living on less than 2 dollars a day.

they're poor compared to their fellow Japanese citizens. Gotta get that fact straight.

This doesn't make good reading for the rest of the world...wouldn't that make China/USA etc. have about 90% of their population poor?

Japan actually has an impressive amount of income equality.

They have the money but the reason behind that is the fact that everything cost too much in Japan. Even more expensive to live in than the United States.

I doubt they're actually poor, they just probably think they are

Maybe it's the same case with China - the rich is getting richer and the poor is getting poorer. A case of wealth disparity.

I read somewhere that the Chinese gov. is tackling that wealth disparity issue.

^^ Yea they have been for a while; but the disparity is still there and ever increasing. The thing is, it may be for now 'economically' sensible for the government to invest in prosperous cities (thus generating more returns from the economy as a whole), it's not socially equitable for them to ignore the rest of the cities starving of basic necessasities.

I mean, how fair is it that an unemployed person living in Shanghai could get a few hundred yuan on a periodical basis as welfare, when a teacher in the farms barely earn the same amount in ONE YEAR. It's quite sad looking at the stats.

But anyway.. back to Japan. I don't think Japan is as bad as that, but in comparison, perhaps the poor feel that they are lacking in government support?

yeah right... I heard every house hold has atleast one huge sentai Robot

got it from an american english teacher in Japan.


''-- The Japanese economy is apparently pretty bad right now. But, I have yet to enter a house/apartment/love shack/cardboard box that didn't have a plasma/HD TV. This is an economy in shambles? What was it like when it was good? *Two* plasma TV's? Man, I wish I could say that kind of thing! "Well, I wanted to buy the summer home in Lexington and Sri Lanka, but with the economy the way it is now, I could only afford the Lexington one. It's terrible. I'm thinking of applying for welfare."

''

when I visited Japan, I was amazed I could afford most the things there. Its just a lil expensive. If I live in Japan now, with my current income, I will do fine. I find things in HK cheap too. And I am not rich, but I make enough to live on my own.
Still I am not satisfy, I have this ambition wanting to be a rich powerful man.

Like I said, Japan has a high level of income equality compared to other countries so I wouldn't imagine it to be a problem.

the minimum wage in Japan is 7 dollars. thats so low. Making 7 dollars an hour in Japan wouldnt be enough to buy 3 meals pure day and rent a place and so on. I think its Japan's best interest to minimize its population to say 50 million given its size its about the same as California. Actually I encourage more Japanese people to immigrate to America. I wouldnt mind hard working Japanese people working for me.

Er......thats not very different to the UK, it's £4.25 or £5.05 depending on your age in the UK.
The minimum wage in Japan depends on your job and prefecture.

Jahir, it's just the opposite. Being poor brings about xenophobic feelings towards other nationalities and races.

^ hmm, that's true.

lol sure it does
I've met very few xenophobic people in third world countries

third world countries were always poor to begin with. they dont have any pride to bring out xenophobic feelings

germany in post ww2 are good example. blame others because they are getting dirt poor

Being poor doesn't mean they don't have pride
Not really, the germans were pissed off because of all the promises made by Hitler
Japanese people are quite rich when they travel abroad but depending on where they live in Japan it can be a bit of a struggle.

not enough to bring out superiority feeling due to lack of achievement in the past and current. unless it's religion or ideal based to support their pride other than race..still, i dont see how far they would go because they always have been poor.

i meant like post ww1 and economic proceeding to ww2 in germany. my bad.

Yes and unlike the UK, very few Japanese jobs are at the minimum wage. Positions such as shop worker, cleaners and sales assistants are all paid well above the minimum wage.

ok what is the average income in Japan? and in cities like tokyo and osaka? and how much would dishwashers or mcdonald people make?

what people say they are and what they actually are, are very different...

Minimum wage is Tokyo is around 4.20 (GBP) apparantly but that wasn't my point since I was stating what kind of jobs fall into minimum wage bracket.

For what job?

Fast food stuff etc.
Basically the jobs that high schoolers do.

Minimum wage is 714 yen, about £3.50. Don't know what job, got it from a website, info from October 2005.

Oh....I asked an actual Japanese person who lives there.
*Kicks them* Stop giving me bad information!

lol maybe they gave you their own minimum wage. When there are two you're entitled to take the higher one.

Well apparantly I should still stand by my earlier point, that certain positions that receive the minimum wage in the UK would expect a much higher wage in Japan.

They were quite shocked when I said that most shop workers earn less than 5 GBP an hour.

Most shop workers? Er.......since when? Even my friends up north were earning like £5.50 when they did shop work whilst going to college

That's some nice work they've got right there then...that's an exception to the rule rather than the norm.

Seriously I've only ever known a handful of people earn less than £5

the cost of living in Japan is way too much compare to what they actually make.(in big cities)

..yea poor, but life standards are better