I would like to thank Pat Boling, Stephan Haggard, Byung-Kook Kim, Andrew MacIntyre, T. J. Pempel, Joe Wong, and the reviewer for their very useful comments on the earlier version of this article. I would also like to thank the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRCC) for the grant to support this research.Google Scholar

1. Esping-Andersen, Gosta, Social Foundations of Post-industrial Economies (Oxford, U.K.: Oxford University Press, 1999); Myles, John and Quadagno, Jill, “Political Theories of the Welfare State,” Social Service Review 76 (2002): 34–57.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

2. Re: East Asian welfare state, Goodman, Roger and Peng, Ito, “East Asian Social Welfare States.” In Esping-Andersen, Gosta, ed., Welfare States in Transition (London: Sage, 1996), pp. 192–224; Goodman, Roger, White, Gordon, and Kwon, Huck-ju, eds., East Asian Welfare Orientalism (London: Routledge, 1998); Huck-Ju Kwon “Beyond European Welfare Regimes: Comparative Perspectives on East Asian Welfare Systems,” Journal of Social Policy 26, no. 4 (1997): 467–484. Re: Esping-Andersen's welfare regime model, Gosta Esping-Andersen, Three Worlds of Welfare Capitalism (Cambridge, U.K.: Polity, 1990).Google Scholar

3. World Bank, The East Asian Miracle: Economic Growth and Public Policy (New York: Oxford University Press, 1993). It should be pointed out, however, that some scholars have argued that Japanese society has become more unequal in the more recent years; see Tachibanaki, Toshiaki and Yagi, Tadashi, “Distribution of Economic Well-Being in Japan: Towards a More Unequal Society.” In Gottshalk, Peter, Gustavfsson, Bjorn, and Palmer, Edward, eds., Changing Patterns in the Distribution of Economic Welfare: An International Perspective (Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press, 1997). In Korea also there was a sharp increase in income inequality immediately after the Asian Economic crisis of 1997. Since 1999, the gap in income inequality has narrowed somewhat.Google Scholar

4. According to World Value Survey data from the late 1990s, Japanese and Korean respondents ranked fourth and sixth lowest out of forty-three countries in terms of tolerance for income inequality (www.worldvaluessurvey.org).Google Scholar

5. Johnson, Chalmers, MITI and the Japanese Miracle: The Growth of Industrial Policy, 1925–1975 (Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 1982); Holliday, Ian, “Productivist Welfare Capitalism: Social Policy in East Asia,” Political Studies 48 (2000): 706–723; Jones, Catherine Finer, “The Pacific Challenge: Confucian Welfare States.” In Jones, Catherine, ed., New Perspectives on the Welfare State in Europe (London: Routledge, 1993); Jones, Catherine Finer, “Hong Kong Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan: Oikonomic Welfare States,” Government and Opposition 25 (Autumn 1990): 446–462.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

6. Johnson, , MITI and the Japanese Miracle ; Woo-Cummings, Meredith, ed., The Developmental State (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1999).Google Scholar

7. World Bank (1993).Google Scholar

8. Johnson, Chalmers, “Political Institutions and Economic Performance: The Government-Business Relationship in Japan, South Korea and Taiwan.” In Deyo, Fred, ed. The Political Economy of the New Asian Industrialism (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1987). For an argument against a strong bureaucratic role in policymaking, see Ramseyer, Frances McCall, and Mark Rosenbluth, J., Japan's Political Markeplace (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1993).Google Scholar

9. World Bank, The East Asian Miracle. Google Scholar

10. Moon, Seung Sook, “Carving Out Space: Civil Society and the Women's Movement in South Korea,” Journal of Asian Studies 61, no. 2 (2002): 473–500; Palley, H., “Social Policy and the Elderly in South Korea: Confucianism, Modernization, and Development,” Asian Survey 32 (1992): 787–801; Sung, Mirin, “Women Reconciling Paid and Unpaid Work in a Confucian Welfare State: The Case of South Korea,” Social Policy and Administration 37, no. 4 (2003): 342–360.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

11. Jones, , “The Pacific Challenge: Confucian Welfare States” and New Perspectives on the Welfare State in Europe. Google Scholar

12. Moon, Seung Sook, “Carving Out Space”; Palley, , “Social Policy and the Elderly in South Korea”; Sung, Mirin, “Women Reconciling Paid and Unpaid Work”; on the influence of Confucianism on political pragmatism, see Kim, Byung-Kook, “The Politics of Crisis and a Crisis of Politics: The Presidency of Kim Dae-Jung.” In Oh, Kongdan, ed., Korea Briefing, 1997–1999: Challenges and Change at the Turn of the Century (Armonk, N.Y.: M. E. Sharpe, 2000), pp. 35–74.Google Scholar

13. Holliday, , “Productivist Welfare Capitalism.” Google Scholar

14. Ibid., p. 710.Google Scholar

15. On the use of social policies to avert political crisis, see Calder, Kent E., Crisis and Compensation: Public Policy and Political Stability in Japan, 1949–1986 (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1988).Google Scholar

16. Cabinet Office, Japan, Steps Towards Gender Equality in Japan (Tokyo: Cabinet Office, Bureau of Gender Equality, 2003); Cabinet Office, Japan, Danjo Kyodo Sakaku Hakusho [White paper on gender equality] (Tokyo: Cabinet Office, Bureau of Gender Equality, 2000); Osawa, Mari, “Japanese Government Approaches to Gender Equality Since the Mid-1990s.” Occasional Paper No. 9 (Detroit, Mich: Wayne State University, College of Urban, Labor, and Metropolitan Affairs, February 2003); Gelb, Joyce, Gender Policies in Japan and the United States: Comparing Women's Movements, Rights, and Politics (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2003); also interviews with: Mari Osawa, member of the Gender Equality Commission and the Pension Reform Advisory Council, February 17, 2004; Jozuka, Yumiko, director of the Gender Impact Assessment and Evaluation, Gender Equality Bureau, Cabinet Office, Japan, February 20, 2004; Chieko Akaishi, codirector of Femin-Women's Democratic Club, a national women's organization in Tokyo, February 24, 2004.Google Scholar

17. Interviews with Ae-Ryung Kim, director of policy research, Ministry of Gender Equality, February 5, 2002; Ryu, Yan-Ji, senior policy analyst, Ministry of Gender Equality, Yeong-Ran Park, Wha-Soon Byun, and Dayong Song, senior policy researchers, Korean Women's Development Institute (KWDI), February 4, 2002.Google Scholar

18. See, e.g., Osawa, , “Japanese Government Approaches to Gender Equality Since the Mid-1990s.” Google Scholar

19. See Gottfried, Heidi and O'Reilly, Jacqueline, “Reregulating Breadwinner Models in Socially Conservative Welfare Systems: Comparing Germany and Japan,” Social Politics 9, no. 1 (2002): 29–59 (on the gender implications of deregulation of temporary/contract employment in Japan).CrossRefGoogle Scholar

20. Song, Ho Keun, “The Birth of a Welfare State in Korea: The Unfinished Symphony of Democratization and Globalization,” Journal of East Asian Studies 3, no. 3 (2003): 405–432.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

21. Kim, Byung-Kook, “Party Politics in South Korea's Democracy: The Crisis of Success.” In Diamond, Larry and Kim, Byung-Kook, eds., Consolidating Democracy in South Korea (Boulder: Lynne Rienner, 2000), pp. 53–86.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

22. Ibid.Google Scholar

23. Song, , “The Birth of Welfare State in Korea”; Kwon, Huck-ju, “Globalization, Unemployment, and Policy Responses in Korea: Repositioning the State?” Global Social Policy 1, no. 2 (2001): 213–234.Google Scholar

24. Song, , “The Birth of a Welfare State in Korea”; Ministry of Health and Welfare, Heisei 11-nendo Shotoku Saibunpai Chosa [Income redistribution survey 1999] (Tokyo: Ministry of Health and Welfare, Policy Bureau, 1999).Google Scholar

25. The current OECD average is approximately 12 percent.Google Scholar

26. Oh, Kyeung Mi and Warnes, Anthony M., “Care Services for Frail Older People in South Korea,” Ageing and Society (2001): 701–720; Ministry of Health and Welfare, Heisei 11-nendo Shotoku Saibunpai Chosa (Income Redistribution Survey 1999).CrossRefGoogle Scholar

27. Lee, Hey-Kyung and Park, Yeong-Ran, “Families in Transition and the Family Welfare Policies in Korea.” Paper presented at the Canada-Korea Social Policy Research Symposium, Seoul, November 22–23, 2003.Google Scholar

28. Ibid.; Korean Women's Development Institute (KWDI), Statistical Yearbook on Women (Seoul: KWDI, 2002). Ministry of Health and Welfare, Heisei 10-nendo kosei Hakusho [White paper on health and welfare 1997] (Tokyo: Gyosei, 1997).Google Scholar

29. KWDI, Statistical Chart on Women (Seoul: KWDI, 2003).Google Scholar

30. Ministry of Health, Welfare, and Labour, Heisei 14-nendo josei rodo hakusho [White paper on women and work 2002] (Tokyo: Gyosei, 2002).Google Scholar

31. Ezawa, Aya and Fujiwara, Chisa, “Lone Mothers and Welfare-to-Work Policies in Japan and the United States: Towards an Alternative.” Paper presented at the annual conference of ISA Research Committee No. 19, University of Toronto, August 21–24, 2003, Toronto; Lee, and Park, , “Families in Transition and the Family Welfare Policies in Korea”; Sung, Mirin, “Women Reconciling Paid and Unpaid Work.” Google Scholar

32. National Institute of Population and Social Science Research of Japan (NIPSSR), The Cost of Social Security in Japan: FY 2001 (Tokyo: NIPPSR, 2002).Google Scholar

33. Lee, and Park, , “Families in Transition and the Family Welfare Policies in Korea.” Google Scholar

34. Some of the examples of service expansion under the Gold Plan were the increase in the numbers of home helpers from 31,400 to 170,000, day services for the elderly from 4,300 to 17,000, beds in short stay centers from 1,000 to 60,000, and elderly health care institutions from 28,000 to 280,000 over the ten-year period from 1989 to 1999.Google Scholar

35. Kwon, , “Globalization, Unemployment, and Policy Responses in Korea: Repositioning the State?” p. 225.Google Scholar

36. Ibid.Google Scholar

37. Lee, and Park, , “Families in Transition and the Family Welfare Policies in Korea.” Google Scholar

38. Ibid.Google Scholar

39. Ibid., p. 16.Google Scholar

40. Ibid. Not surprisingly, the percentage of children under six attending child care increased from 7.4 percent to 21.5 percent between 1995 and 2002 (ibid.).Google Scholar

41. Ibid.Google Scholar

42. Ministry of Health and Welfare, Heisei 11-nendo Shotoku Saibunpai Chosa (Income Redistribution Survey 1999). Direct tax and social insurance burden = [employment-related income tax + resident (local) tax + other taxes such as property and capital gains tax] + [national and employee pensions and health care insurance]. Also, the Household Expenditure Survey only looks at employee households and therefore does not include nonemployee households in the calculation. The figure for tax and social insurance burden, if nonemployee households are included, comes to 20 percent for 1998 (Ministry of Health and Welfare, Heisei 11-nendo Shotoku Saibunpai Chosa (Income Redistribution Survey 1999).Google Scholar

43. Ibid.Google Scholar

44. Takayama, Noriyuki, “The Japanese Pension System: How It Was and What It Will Be.” Discussion Paper No. 194 Project on Intergenerational Equity (Institute of Economic Research, Hitotsubashi University, 2004).Google Scholar

45. Kim, Yongha, “The Effects of Population Aging on Social Expenditures.” In Choi, Kyungsoo, Moon, Hyungpyo, Shin, Inseok, and Hahn, Chin Hee, eds., Population Aging in Korea: Economic Impacts and Policy Issues , KDI Research Monograph (Seoul: Korean Development Institute, 2003).Google Scholar

46. Cosh, A. D., Hughes, A., and Singh, A., “Openness, Financial Innovation, Changing Patterns of Ownership, and the Structure of Financial Markets.” In Banuri, T. and Schor, J. B., eds., Financial Openness and National Autonomy: Constraints and Opportunities (Oxford, U.K.: Clarendon, 1992); Mishra, Ramesh, Globalization and the Welfare State (Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 1999).Google Scholar

47. Cameron, D., “The Expansion of the Public Economy: A Comparative Analysis,” American Political Science Review 72 (1978): 1243–1261; Rodrik, D., Has Globalization Gone Too Far? (Washington, D.C.: Institute for International Economics, 1997).CrossRefGoogle Scholar

48. Huber, Evelyne and Stephens, John, Development and Crisis of the Welfare State: Parties and Policies in Global Markets (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2001); Pierson, Paul, “The New Politics of the Welfare State,” World Politics 48 (1996): 143–179.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

49. Huber, and Stephens, , Development and Crisis of the Welfare State. Google Scholar

50. Huber, Evelyne, “Globalization and Social Policy Responses in Europe and Latin America.” Paper presented at University of Toronto, February 27, 2004.Google Scholar

51. Song, , “The Birth of a Welfare State in Korea.” Google Scholar

52. Peng, Ito, “A Fresh Look at the Japanese Welfare State,” Social Policy and Administration Journal 34, no. 1 (2000): 87–114.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

53. Kwon, , “Globalization, Unemployment, and Policy Responses in Korea: Repositioning the State?” Google Scholar

54. Ministry of Health and Welfare of Japan, Heisei 9-nendo Kosei Hakusho [White paper on health and welfare 1997] (Tokyo: Gyosei, 1997).Google Scholar

55. Byun, Whasoon, Baek, KyungLee, and Kim, Hyunju, “A Study on the Changes in the Korean Family and the Role and Status of Females,” Women's Studies Forum 18(2002).Google Scholar

56. Osawa, , “Japanese Government Approaches to Gender Equality Since the Mid-1990s.” Google Scholar

57. Kim, Byung-Kook, “The U.S.–South Korea Alliance: Anti-American Challenges,” Journal of East Asian Studies 3, no. 2 (2003): 225–258, 234–236.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

58. The 55 regime system (55-nedo taisei) refers to the postwar social and political consensus formed under the LDP regime since 1955.Google Scholar

59. Peng, Ito, “Japan: The Interaction of Gender and Demography in a Low-Birth Rate and Aging Society.” In Mahon, Rianne and Michel, Sonya, eds., Child Care at the Crossroads: Gender, Entitlements, and Welfare State Restructuring (New York: Routledge, 2002), pp. 31–56; Osawa, “Japanese Government Approaches to Gender Equality Since the Mid-1990s.” Google Scholar

60. Higuchi, Keiko, “Kaigo no Shakai-ka wo Koshite Susumeta” [How we promoted socialization of care]. In Higuchi, Keiko, ed., Chiiki de Miru, Minna de Mitoru: Joseiga Susumeru Kaigo no Shakaika (Everyone in the community takes care of the elderly: women promoting socialization of care) (Kyoto: Minerva Shobo, 1997), pp. 136–170; Peng, , “Japan”; Peng, Ito, “Social Care in Crisis: Gender, Demography, and Welfare State Restructuring in Japan,” Social Politics 9, no. 3 (2002).Google Scholar

61. This organization later changed its name to Koreishakai wo Yokusuru Josei no Kai (Women's Association for the Improvement of the Aged Society) in 1996 when the proportion of people over the age of sixty-five reached 14 percent.Google Scholar

62. Higuchi, , “Kaigo no Shakai-ka wo Koshite Susumeta” (How we promoted socialization of care); Koreika Shakai wo Yokusuru Josei no Kai, ed., Tomodaore ka Tomodachi Shakai he (Together we all collapse or together we support together) (Tokyo: Akashi Shoten, 1998); Nihon Fujin Dantai Rengokai (NFDR; Association of Women's Organization of Japan), Josei Hakusho, 2001 [White paper on women 2001] (Tokyo: Horupu, 2001); NFDR, Josei Hakusho, 1997 [White Paper on Women 1997] (Tokyo: Horupu, 1997).Google Scholar

63. See., e.g., Ministry of Health and Welfare reports cited above (1997, 1999).Google Scholar

64. Pempel, T. J., Regime Shift: Comparative Dynamics of the Japanese Political Economy (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1998), p. 360.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

65. In Japan, most voluntary sector organizations and NGOs are referred to as NPOs. For further discussion on roles of NPOs in social policymaking process, see Murase-Eto, Mikiko, “Public Involvement in Social Policy Reform: Seen from the Perspective of Japan's Elderly-Care Insurance Scheme,” Journal of Social Policy 30, no. 1 (2001): 17–36; Pekkanen, Robert, “Japan's New Politics: The Case of the NPO Law,” Journal of Japanese Studies, 26, no. 1 (2000): 111–148; Peng, “Social Care in Crisis.” Google Scholar

66. Public opinion polls show that next to economic recovery, social welfare—particularly the welfare for the aged—was the top concern for people over the age of twenty. The same surveys also show that public mistrust in politicians, bureaucrats, and their governments soared to over 80 percent in 1992 and remained there for the rest of the 1990s (Mainichi Shimbun National Opinion Surveys, 1992–2000). The PMO's own public opinion survey conducted in May 1994 also found that social welfare and elderly care issues outweighed all over issues, including economy. For example, in the multiple answer question asking respondents what they wish the government to put its effort, 61 percent stated improved health care, social welfare, and pension systems, 47 percent put down care for the elderly and disabled, 44.7 percent stated better tax system, and 37.6 percent put down better economic policies Prime Minister's Office, Seron Chosa [Public Opinion Polls] (Tokyo: PMO, 1994).Google Scholar

67. The LTCI was legislated in 1997.Google Scholar

68. Democratic Party of Japan, Tayona Lifestyle wo Ikiru Jidai no Jiritsu to Anshin no Seisaku [Policies for independence and security in the age of different lifestyles] (Tokyo: Minshuto Seisaku Chosa Kai, 2002). Interview with Mari Osawa, member of Gender Equal Society Commission, February 16, 2004.Google Scholar

69. In fact, SDPJ became the first political party to have a woman leader, Doi Takako, in 1986. Other parties also attempted to capitalize on the proportional representation system by fielding more women candidates working on social welfare and women's issues in order to increase their electoral chances. This strategy seems to have worked well as the 1996 election saw a significant increase in female candidates, and the 2001 election resulted in a big increase in the number of women elected to the Diets. For discussion on the Democratic Party's position on women, see Ogai, Tokuko, “Japanese Women and Political Institution,” PS, Political Science and Politics (June 2001): 207–210; Democratic Party of Japan, Tayona lifestyle wo ikiru jidai no jiritsu to anshin no seisaku [Policies for independence and security in the age of different lifestyles]. Also interview with Mari Osawa, member of Gender Equal Society Commission, February 16, 2004.Google Scholar

70. Pekkanen, , “Japan's New Politics: The Case of the NPO Law.” Google Scholar

71. Takao, Yasuo, “The Rise of the ‘Third Sector’ in Japan,” Asian Survey 41, no. 2 (2001): 290–309, 293–294.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

72. Ministry of Health and Welfare, Heisei 12-nendo kosei hakusho [White paper on health and welfare 2000] (Tokyo: Gyosei, 2000). The same report shows that nearly 80 percent of the volunteers were women, and approximately three-quarters of them were over the age of fifty.Google Scholar

73. Adachi, Shigeshi, Shimin Fukushi no Shakaigaku: Koreika, Fukushi Kaikaku, NPO [Sociology of citizen welfare: demographic aging, welfare reforms, and NPO] (Tokyo: Harvest, 1998).Google Scholar

74. Zaidan, Sawayaka Fukushi, Sah, Iou! [Now let's speak out!], Newsletter of Sawayaka Fukushi Zaidan (PR version), 2001.Google Scholar

75. Interviews with Masuda Masanobu, head of Policy and Research Bureau, Ministry of Health and Welfare, who was the ministry staff in charge of the Advisory Council for Long-Term Care Insurance, November 27, 2001; Emiko, Takenaka and Keiko, Yamada, president and vice president of the Koreishakai wo Yokusuru Josei no Kai, Osaka chapter, November 11, 2001; discussions at the symposium “How to Live in an Aged Society,” sponsored by Ministry of Municipal Affairs, Mitsui-Sumitomo Kaijo Fukushi Zaidan, and Japan Ageing Sogo Kenkyu Center, Tokyo; and conversation with Hotta Tsutomu, president, Sawayaka Fukushi Zaidan, October 6, 2001.Google Scholar

76. Translated as “The Society of One”; Hanahoe was a major pillar of Korea's authoritarian rule prior to 1987. See Kim, , “The Politics of Crisis and a Crisis of Politics,” pp. 53–56.Google Scholar

77. Ibid.Google Scholar

78. Seong, Kyoung-Ryung, “Civil Society and Democratic Consolidation in South Korea: Great Achievements and Remaining Problems.” In Diamond, Larry and Kim, Byung-Kook, eds., Consolidating Democracy in South Korea (Boulder: Lynne Rienner, 2000), pp. 87–110.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

79. Kim, Byung-Kook, “The Politics of Crisis and a Crisis of Politics”; and “Party Politics in South Korea's Democracy”; Seong, , “Civil Society and Democratic Consolidation in South Korea.” Google Scholar

80. Kim, , “The Politics of Crisis and a Crisis of Politics.” Google Scholar

81. The Korean won collapsed and was devalued by half, the interest rate rose to 22 percent in July 1998, business bankruptcies continued, unemployment soared to 9 percent in July 1998, and urban poverty rate rose to 21 percent.Google Scholar

82. Song, , “The Birth of a Welfare State in Korea.” Google Scholar

83. Kim, , “Party Politics in South Korea's Democracy.” Google Scholar

84. Ibid.Google Scholar

85. Seong, , “Civil Society and Democratic Consolidation in South Korea.” Google Scholar

86. Interview with the Dr. Kyung Tae Moon, deputy minister of Health and Welfare, November 21, 2003.Google Scholar

87. Tchoe, Byongho, “Long-Term Care Policy for the Elderly in Korea.” Paper presented at the Canada-Korea Social Policy Research Symposium, Seoul, November 22–23, 2003.Google Scholar

88. Lee, and Park, , “Families in Transition and the Family Welfare Policies in Korea.” Google Scholar

89. Lee, Hye-Kyung, “Women in Poverty, Public Assistance, and Welfare Services in Korea,” Korea Journal 42, no. 2 (1998).Google Scholar

90. Byun, Whasoon, Baek, KyungLee, and Kim, Hyunju, “A Study on the Changes in the Korean Family and the Role and Status of Females,” Korean Women's Development Institute (2002); Lee, and Park, , “Families in Transition and the Family Policies in Korea.” Google Scholar

91. Sung, Mirin, “Women Reconciling Paid and Unpaid Work”; Lee, and Park, , “Families in Transition and the Family Welfare Policies in Korea”; Korean Institute for Health and Social Affairs (KIHASA) & Ministry of Health and Welfare, Survey of Long-Term Care Needs and Policy, Research Report (Seoul: KIHASA & MOHW, 2001); Park, Yeong-Ran and Hwang, J. I., A Study on the Situation of Women's Poverty and the Effectiveness of National Minimum Livelihood Survey System (Seoul: KWDI, 2002).Google Scholar

92. Seong, , “Civil Society and Democratic Consolidation in South Korea.” 427–451 Google Scholar