Things We Can Expect In 2008
Apr 03, 2008 • News
So the new, fiscal 2008 year is upon Japan and the Mainichi Daily News released a list of changes Japanese citizens can expect. I’m certain that as a foreigner, I’m not eligible for most of the benefits but still required to pay all the penalties.
List of changes
- Gas prices dropping 25 yen per liter!
Well, doing better than the US at least. Maybe I can take that road trip in August afterall. Food may also come down as transportation costs go down. - It gets more expensive to see a doctor
Gods forbid you have an accident during the hospital’s off-hours. The good news is that I know my doctor isn’t taking this extra 120 yen to run off and buy a new BMW. - Uninsured really, really old people have to pay insurance.
No freebies right up until you die. - No more fat people
Metabolic Syndrome is the nice, clinical term for telling someone they’re a fatty. You hear it all the time now because paranoia has swept the country. Now, if you’re between the ages of 40-74 and diagnosed asa land whalehaving metabolic syndrome, you are required to improve your lifestyle. - Pay more for the national pension.
We’re paying more…and the population continues to decline? The amount Japanese people pay is now up to 14,410 yen a month. - It’s ok to divorce those bastards!
Now, housewives can have the ultimate marital revenge - half their husbands pension payments from the duration of the marriage. This has actually been an issue and fear for a while now…I am interested to see what it will do for the divorce rates in this country. - No more Initial D
Liability insurance is up by 22.2%. I think my car’s destined for the scrap pile anyway…it’s 3 foreigner’s old. - Bureaucracy infiltrates recycling
Japan has one of the most complext recycling programs. Good for the environment? Perhaps. But now they want to break the PET bottle1 categories down even further…that’ll be more plastic bags I have to use. - Kicking old people off the road
It’s ageist when I say this but I can actually benefit from this. Unfortunately, because the benefits seem to be only in Tokyo, I doubt anyone around here will get off the road so easily. - Recording of prosecution interrogations
Let’s hope I never have to benefit from this…. - We will acknowledge that the A-Bomb affected more than 1,800 people
Japan is notoriously bad at determining who suffered from the atomic bomb.2 Let’s hope that this will also include minorities in the numbers. - Improved teaching
Grad school for teachers…not quite sure exactly what this means. - Part-timers are just as good as full-timers
Maybe the US could do this too and take down the Wal-mart empire? Companies now have to give the same benefits to everyone, regardless of status.
Okay, so not as bad as I thought, at least regarding my personal daily life. I do want to see if the government does come through with help to the extended A-bomb victims. I also want to see if the older generation housewives will divorce, tsunami-style, like everyone says they will.
Comments
1.) Geez, that’s nice.
5.) Uh, read in a book that this will be the trend of the future in Japan. Guess it’s true, then…
6.) Girl power?
10.) At least you know the police won’t force a confession from you.
@Nagato: Regarding #6, in the past and sometimes now, women either worked part time jobs or stayed at home after marriage. The bulk of their income, if not all of it, was dependent on their husband’s salary. If he divorced her, she had no savings except what she had squirreled away from his earnings. There are estimations that many older generation women are unhappy with their marriages (either developed unhappiness or unhappiness from the start) and the only thing holding them back from a divorce is that they have few job skills and no savings.
@lanie-emon: Regarding #1, I saw in the news today that many are taking advantage of cheaper gas. Possibly this is just a warm up for Golden Week but who knows.
Hmm, shows how much I know about Japanese culture. I didn’t think of that. =x I’m too used to freedom of movement here in the US.
6.) Wowow =o That sounds pretty one-sided
8.) I know what you mean! I’ve been in Japan for a whopping 4 hours in my life, and omgsh was the recycling bin complicated!
9.) I could totally go for some of that >_>;;
12.) I assume this means teachers must have at least a Master’s degree? Dunno how that’ll help though, some of my professors (who have Ph.D’s) are batshit insane.