Families headed by widowed mothers badly in debt amid rising prices

Friday 18th April, 04:50 AM JST

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tkoind2 at 12:57 PM JST - 18th April

greenteaonsens: Way to be empathetic. A lot of families in Japan are struggling even with a living working husband. If a family doesn't have parents to pitch in, money is often very tight. Think about it, I saw a recent news broadcast that said 5million is an average income for a family of four. Now apply that to living in Tokyo and providing for a wife and two kids. It is hard out there for families and getting a lot harder. The solutions are not about Darwinism. The solutions rest with rational price controls, social programs and a much stronger effort to make living conditions better for families in Japan and in many other nations. Just because your situation allows you to family financial planning, does not mean everyone else can. Right or wrong.
greenteaonsens at 01:22 PM JST - 18th April

Price controls??!!

What the hell is this, North Korea?

We live in capitalist democracies. There will be winners and losers. Any other 'utopian' system just creates far more losers and massive human rights oppression. Jesus, the 20th century is replete with examples of that.

Sorry, why should MY TAXES go up just so that people like this can be bailed out? I've been careful all my life, saved hard, avoided debts, didn't marry a reckless person, etc. Why am I to be punished to provide funds for people who can't even take out a simple thing like life insurance?

This is Japan, not some Third World "dollar a day" place. 99.9% of the people here CAN afford life insurance. They just didn't bother, that's all.

I7m sick of bleeding heart welfare states that do nothing but bail out and prop up the lazy, stupid and dishonest.
Brainiac at 01:28 PM JST - 18th April

greenteaonsens

The answer to your question is that it is the humane thing to do. The measure of a civilized society is how it treats its disadvantaged, disabled and elderly.

You are badly in need of a lesson in compassion.
Patrick Smash at 01:36 PM JST - 18th April

greenteaonsens

I'm not sure they can all afford life insurance. There is a lot of debt here, and it is not a priority over the costs of education etc.
greenteaonsens at 01:51 PM JST - 18th April

You are badly in need of a lesson in compassion.

And you are badly in need of a lesson in economics and human pyschology.

What happens when more and more people realize they can hop on the "disadvantaged, disabled and elderly" bandwagon, decide to stop producing and adding value, and just expect the few remaining others who actually are fiscally prudent and work hard to pick up the slack?

I'll tell ya: society starts to terminally decline in both an economic and social sense.
laconic at 03:26 PM JST - 18th April

greenteaonsens

Coming from the UK I absolutely agree with you about overgenerous welfare states, HOWEVER, the families in the story above dont really come under the banner of single mothers with 7 kids all to different fathers who have never and will never work. These women struggle to find a job that will pay them only 700 or 800 yen an hour and is flexible enough to work around school holidays. As for life insurance, we all know how unwilling these companies can be to pay out. I have a friend, not in Japan, who got a brain tumour and can no longer work. He has two years to live but the insurance company wont pay because he ha childhood epilepsy (which he declared). Had to sell his house and his wife works two part time jobs in between looking after him and their two kids.
Hapa_musume at 05:48 PM JST - 18th April

And you are badly in need of a lesson in economics and human pyschology.

And you're badly in need of a plane ticket out of Japan (heck, off the planet).

To not care but for yourself is species killing behavior. It's caring that seperates humans from beasts, and it's how mankind has survived over the years -- for without civilizations, you wouldn't even need to worry about money.
okapake at 06:21 PM JST - 18th April

And the government is willing to give millions and millions to Africa instead of taking care of its own people! Just for world face!
anderstungtwist at 06:53 PM JST - 18th April

This is particularly surprising considering how cheap term life insurance has become since the advent of the internet. These widows are as financially adept as those who take out house loans which require monthly payments of over 50% of their income.
MichaelJP at 09:51 PM JST - 18th April

This is really sad. Anyone know a good charity to donate to that will help take care of these women and their children?
anderstungtwist at 10:37 PM JST - 18th April

Yeah, but I don't want to say because they'll become even lazier.
Phenious at 11:49 PM JST - 18th April

There is no use in dusputing the situation with greenteaonsens and vise versa for green as well. Be as subjective and close minded as you want on either front. No matter what country you live in, there will be people that are in the gutter and can't seem to get out. Be it bad life choices, or simply being born into the world with a wooden spoon in your mouth. It is really hard to escape without help. It is a fact of the world and you can't really have a "worthy" opinion on it unless you have been there your self.

No amount of careful planning can help some people if they have been directed the wrong way sense birth, or rather, any emotional event in their life after the fact of birth and childhood. It is the way of the beast we call life. It throws curves, and no amount of planning can save some people. We are human beings that thrive on the what we call feelings and emotions. Those feelings and emotions can sometimes direct you the wrong way. That doesn't mean these women or men are wrong, bad, lazy, or horrible people just because they went down the "wrong financial" path and married someone they loved, who happened to not have money or good money practices.

It is too close minded to think that these peoples decisions in life that brought them to where they are now was all decided through financial or logical means. Anyone who says different hasn't fully experienced what life can throw at you, both emotional and economic. I could go on for eternity about the human psychology comment that green made, but I will leave that alone... obviously there was no schooling on his or her part about the real interworkings of the human brain.

That being said... These women or men shouldn't be berated because they can't seem to get out of the gutter. If you don't want to help them then so be it. Though, I dont believe you should badger and belittle their being just because you are better off financially.
some14some at 11:54 PM JST - 18th April

shameful for world's 2nd largest economy unable to look after its own people.
Hapa_musume at 02:10 AM JST - 19th April

No matter what country you live in, there will be people that are in the gutter and can't seem to get out. Be it bad life choices, or simply being born into the world with a wooden spoon in your mouth. It is really hard to escape without help. It is a fact of the world and you can't really have a "worthy" opinion on it unless you have been there your self.

It's not as bad today as it was before WWII. My mom's family was lucky as they had a samurai heritage and were land owners, who also had boats for fishing for further income. But even during the war, if it wasn't for her dad hoarding food (a "crime" that gave a death sentence), they and their neighbors, would've starved to death -- the army having come in and stole the crops, livestock and any fishing boat that could be worthy to feed more than two.

Japan isn't like the USA and Europe. Your status still reflects where you will go (e.g., today it's if you don't get into the perfect university, think a second or third tier career); and who you are in the eyes of the community. The concept of being sympathetic to widows, orphans and not keeping to community standards is a foreign idea, as the community can only survive if the strongest and socially connected lives. Such social welfare was expected to be taken cared of via the clan.

What makes this situation worse is Japan adopting more Western mores, where that social network is diminishing. Today uou may even find Japanese ex-pats practicing more Japanese traditions than the natives (much like Americans keep merry ol' England still alive, when Brits elected to became more French!). Our family would never think of putting my mom in a nursing home, nor other more traditional ex-pat families, for example. Here I read of more and more natives not even taking care of their parents in old age. That used to be a very shameful in Japan (for ex-pats it still is).

Probably it's best that mom hasn't returned to Japan in 50 years. She may have died of a broken heart, knowing of sons and daughters throwing out their parents; let alone families so selfish to not take care of a widowed mother in the clan.
bottchef at 04:48 AM JST - 19th April

I think many of us are forgetting the real issue here. Widows are unfortunate women who have lost their husbands. Losing a family member, especially a spouse, is a tragedy and not an irresponsible action. Furthermore, women all over the world tend to earn less income than their husbands, even in the same line of work. When you combine this with the reality that many of these women have not established a career due to raising their children, it's obvious that even the best financial planners could be left deprived.

I agree that raising taxes and adding programs doesn't solve the problem. However, I think accusing these women of being irresponsible is reckless and despicable. Instead, individuals should be charitable and responsible enough to personally help solve the problems in their communities. We can all donate a little money to a family in our neighborhood that's in need and we can all stand to do a little service for others. We shouldn't need the government to mandate this type of behavior and we shouldn't forget that there are many people who were extremely responsible but still found themselves in tragic and challenging circumstances.