The advent of vulnerability: Japan's free fall through its porous safety net

Abstract

Abstract By reviewing the existing body of literature on socio-economic changes since the 1990s in the context of the functioning of processes of social mobility, cohesion and welfare services in Japan, this article attempts to track reasons for an increase in feelings of anxiety and insecurity to be found among the population in recent years. It is suggested that an examination of risk perception might complement analyses of objective changes, in order to achieve a better understanding of the implications of these transformations for the social cohesion of Japanese society from both a micro- and a macro-perspective. In this context, results of a nationwide survey carried out by the German Institute for Japanese Studies (DIJ) in September 2009 will be discussed, proposing a new direction for research in the current discourse on the Japanese ‘gap society’ (kakusa shakai).