‘If I don’t speak out, I’ll die’: A woman on welfare in Japan talks about difficulties due to rising prices

TOKYO — The Japanese government intends to hold discussions by the end of the year on revising social benefits that have been delayed for two years due to soaring prices. Meanwhile, welfare recipients are struggling to make ends meet, and one told the Mainichi Shimbun how she is being pushed into a corner.

The woman, a 50-year-old Tokyo resident, has been on social security for about four years. The recent rise in prices has cast a shadow on the lives of vulnerable people like her. She goes to the nearest supermarket at 8 pm three days a week, looking for products with half-price stickers. To cut energy costs this summer, she refrained from using air conditioning even though the room temperature reached 36 degrees Celsius, and only used an electric fan to cope with the heat. With a monthly benefit of just under 70,000 yen (about $450), no matter how much she saves, she only has 2,000 yen (about $13) left.

In 2018, while working in an office, she was diagnosed with fibromyalgia, a condition that makes everyday life difficult due to severe pain throughout the body. A few years earlier, she was diagnosed with another disease and covered medical expenses, which reached 100,000 yen (about 645 US dollars) per month, through savings and other assets, but her savings ran out and she even had to quit her job in 2019. work due to the side effects of the drug.

The social worker at her hospital applied for public assistance on her behalf, and she will no longer have to pay out of pocket for medical expenses. However, the current high cost of living limits her lifestyle and she can barely afford to buy food. When a supportive friend passed away, she couldn’t even raise enough money to pay for funeral expenses.

Last August, in a supermarket, she met a woman in her 70s who also received social benefits. The woman told her that she came to the store every day before closing to cool down because she could not fix the air conditioner in her house.

In August of this year, she stopped seeing the elderly woman who was supposed to be with her every day. She later learned that the woman had died of heatstroke at home.

She also collapsed from heatstroke while at home. She told Mainichi, “If I don’t speak out, I’ll die like her. I want people to know that, unlike when you are working, these circumstances make it difficult for a person to live a normal life or even interact with others on a minimal level.”

(Japanese original: Naohiro Koenuma, Lifestyle, Science and Environment News Department)