The Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare in Japan is an arm of the Japanese government. Its wide-ranging functions include the administration of Japan’s social security system and special agencies that promote the rights and responsibilities of Japan’s workforce. In many respects, the Ministry resembles certain branches of the United States government, such as the Social Security Administration, Food and Drug Administration and the Department of Health and Human Services.

A distinctive body formed by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare is the Central Labour Relations Commission. The formation of this group demonstrates that the Japanese government acknowledges that workers may have valid complaints about working conditions and that a formal agency should exist to assist them in solving those problems. Japan’s Prime Minister appoints the members of Japan’s Central Labour Relations Commission. In your search for information about the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, you’ll do well to consider the following:

1. Investigate workers rights and responsibilities in Japan from reliable sources.

2. Get details on social security from the Ministry of health and Welfare Services in Japan.

3. Learn how the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare provides for its elderly citizens.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Find out which workers rights and responsibilities the Japanese government promotes and protects

The Ministry's website provides the results of monthly labour surveys on real working conditions and wages in Japan.

I recommend: The Central Labour Relations Commission in Japan publishes information on Japanese workers’ rights and responsibilities. Representatives from public interest groups, labor groups and business owners form this Commission’s membership. This group has published a flowchart indicating the steps it takes in dealing with claims of unfair labor practices.

Discover how the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare makes social welfare work in Japan

The Japan Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare has gradually increased the number of social security systems it provides to its citizens since the end of World War II.

I recommend: The Objectives and Functions of Social Security that the Ministry offers defines what social security means in Japan, what the system promises and does not promise and explains what the government understands the term “redistribution of income” to mean. The Ministry published the report on Social Security and Household Economy to clearly depict the results of its surveys on income redistribution in Japan.

Learn about long-term care from reports published by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare

The Japanese government remains committed to offering its citizens the social and economic assistance they need once they can no longer work.

I recommend: The Ministry’s Long-term Care Insurance in Japan will tell you about the social goals for providing quality medical care for Japan’s aging population. The Ministry also makes available its Direction of Health and Welfare Policies for the Elderly over the Next Five Years, a lucid document which sets forth the long-term care plan’s fundamental direction and specific steps planned to provide a wide-ranging support system for the elderly.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  The Ministry of Health and Welfare in Japan can put you in touch with the Social Insurance Agency within Japan. This group can assist you with questions about international labor rights and which foreigners may be covered by Japanese social programs.