WELFARE-STATE OR WELFARE SOCIETY - THESES COMPARING JAPANESE AND GERMAN WELFARE

This essay discusses some of the ''macro''-differences between the Ger man welfare state and Japanese ''welfare society'' in their historical development. Both countries deal with ''welfare'' - in Germany primar ily as a state responsibility and aimed at individuals only, in Japan strongly as a pre-state issue (company and family welfare) and assurin g the group. The perspective in both countries is one from poverty, of ten local policy, or from ''intermediary welfare organisations'', like ''Wohlfahrtsverbande'', and it takes into account, that Japan has tra ditionally relied on the German welfare model. After roughly contrasti ng the two countries, five major causal chains for the great differenc es between the two welfare cultures are discussed.