Photo/Illutration Prime Minister Fumio Kishida explains the pillars of a new economic package at the prime minister’s office on Sept. 25. (The Asahi Shimbun)

Foreigners who came to Japan around the time of the Meiji Restoration of 1868 were surprised by the structure and layout of Japanese homes.

The front of the house facing the street would be completely open, giving passers-by a full view of the house’s occupants taking a nap or bathing in a washtub. There were no door keys, nor anything resembling furniture, but that apparently did not bother the public at all.

The only walls the home had were on the sides, according to Danish-born Edouard Suenson (1842-1921), the author of “Edo Bakumatsu Taizaiki” (My sojourn in Edo in the final days of the Edo Period).

Suenson wrote about door frames lined on both sides with white paper that resembled cotton fabric. I presume he was describing shoji sliding doors.

Looking at homes in present-day Japan, I can see their occupants’ lifestyles are quite different from what they would have been in the late 19th century.

First, at the house’s entrance is “semaki mon,” which literally means a “narrow gate” but carries the meaning of “having stiff or almost insurmountable competition,” as in the sheer difficulty young working parents face today trying to find a day care center to take in their children.

Once inside the house, there is also the “glass ceiling” stretching overhead, hindering working women from rising above a certain level on the corporate ladder.

Then, there looms the “nenshu no kabe” (literally, “the annual income wall”) that can make workers lose interest in their jobs.

The term denotes part-time workers’ income limit, where exceeding it would mean having to pay higher social premiums, which, in turn, would cause their net incomes to shrink.

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida says his administration will try to demolish this “wall.”

Specifically, the government will subsidize business operators and create a system that will enable part-time workers to exceed the income limit and still not have to pay a higher social security premium for two years.

But if workers perceive these ideas as nothing more than stopgap measures, they won’t play along with Kishida’s plans.

What is truly needed is a fundamental review of the nation’s social security system, but this is a tough issue that has been discussed for the last 20 years and is still nowhere near a solution.

The prices for sake, ham and other goods are going up next month. Kishida has announced measures to deal with the rising prices, but letting the budget grow unchecked will only jeopardize the nation’s already precarious financial state.

That would be tantamount to fanning the flames of “hino kuruma no daidokoro,” which literally is a “kitchen with a car on fire” but means being in dire financial straits.

And that is a situation that absolutely must be avoided.

--The Asahi Shimbun, Sept. 28

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Vox Populi, Vox Dei is a popular daily column that takes up a wide range of topics, including culture, arts and social trends and developments. Written by veteran Asahi Shimbun writers, the column provides useful perspectives on and insights into contemporary Japan and its culture.

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