Quality of Life

Since Japan's per capita GDP surpassed that of the United States and most European countries at the end of the 1980s, Japanese people have come to be more interested in the quality of life. Housing conditions were still poorer and working hours were longer compared with the U.S. and most European countries. Recognizing this in 1992, Prime Minister Miyazawa emphasized the importance of improving the quality of life in the national plan. The plan called for reducing the average number of working hours in a year from 2,100 hours in 1992 to 1,800 in 5 years as a national goal.

Working Hours

Working hours began to decrease from 1989 as Chart 8 shows.

Life Expectancy

Statistics show that the quality of life of Japanese people is high in terms of health and safety. The life expectancy at birth of Japanese has become the highest in the world and Japan's infant mortality rate the lowest.

Life expectancy at birth has been increasing and it is expected to improve farther (See Chart 9).

Improvement of the nation's infant mortality rate has been remarkable, too. It has become the lowest in the world (See Chart 10). This is one of the reasons for the increased life expectancy at birth.

Long life expectancy and low infant mortality may be considered as indicators of the performance of health services in Japan. However, the life expectancy at 80 years old in Japan is not the longest in the world. The death rate of pregnant women is not the lowest, either. These indicators can be improved by better personal social services for the elderly and social support for working women.

Safety From Criminal Offenses

In the field of safety, with few crimes, the degree of safety is high in Japan. One can assert that this fact itself is desirable from the standpoint of well-being. There are many problems involved in international comparison of crime statistics. Still, the statistics on serious crimes must be reasonably credible. As shown in Table 1, Japan is one of the countries with the lowest number of murder and robbery cases among the major industrialized countries.

The following facts seem to explain why crimes are few in Japan:
(a) The police are competent and the arrest ratio is high. Chart 11 that shows the relationship between the arrest rates and crime rates (murder rates) suggests there is negative correlation between those rates; (b) Japan is racially homogeneous and there are not many foreigners in the country; (c) the closeness of family members helps in the prevention of crimes by youths; (d) the unemployment rate is low.

If we disregard natural disasters, such as earthquakes, Japan may be called a safe country.

Housing and Environment

Japan appears to lag far behind other OECD countries in housing environment, especially in terms of environmental amenities. In Japan, the proportion of owner-occupied houses is high, especially among older people (about 80%), but per capita space of housing is still smaller than that of the U.S. and most European countries. Nursing homes and sheltered housing for the elderly per population and per elderly people are by far fewer than most European countries.

Per capita space of parks and greenery in urban areas is obviously smaller than in those countries. Natural sea coasts in and around large cities have been seriously destroyed. These experiences in Japan show that not only the markets but also politics often failed to preserve amenity resources. Voluntary and non-profit organizations like the national trust system and their activities are expected to develop.

It is necessary to take vigorous measures to improve housing conditions and environmental amenities.

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