[Whispers of Society] Self-help, Mutual-help, and Public-help!

I am a grandpa who supports Generation Z and the future generation!

Following former Prime Minister Abe, the person suddenly entrusted with the role during the COVID-19 pandemic was Yoshihide Suga. Former Prime Minister Suga was handed the baton in a very difficult situation.

Even when trying to deliver vaccines to each municipality through the usual Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare route, progress was slow, and they were not reaching the municipalities; furthermore, due to resistance from the Japan Medical Association, cooperation from doctors to administer the shots could not be obtained.

By appointing the strong-armed Minister Kono, distributing vaccines to municipalities via the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications route, and securing the cooperation of dentists to administer the shots to push it through forcefully, the attitude of the Medical Association softened, and vaccinations proceeded all at once.

As one would expect from Suga, who was a strategist as a chief of staff to former Prime Minister Abe, he overcame the crisis with shrewd politics, but his base as a politician was weak, and it ended as a short-lived cabinet.

What Suga often said was, "First self-help, then mutual-help, and what still cannot be done is helped by the government through public-help" self-help, mutual-help, and public-help.

Given the nature of taxes (insurance premiums) and social security (insurance premiums), public-help is more about how tax money is used, and since it is a service provided by the administration using tax money, if mutual-help collapses, it ends up being covered by tax increases and public-help.

In the post-war period, Japan successfully created this mutual-help system, and supplemented services that "the administration could not reach" by having each resident provide a little bit of unpaid service.

This approach differed from how NPOs (corporations) developed in the US, where volunteering is popular. Post-war reconstruction was achieved through mutual-help, such as the neighborhood association system, which is unthinkable in the individualistic US.

However, times have changed, and this system has become unsustainable.

With both parents working full-time and raising children together, they are sometimes at their limit with their own household affairs, and there are constant reports of more people withdrawing from PTAs and neighborhood associations.

Garbage stations in each municipality are set up by each neighborhood association, not the administration, and the usage environment is maintained by taking turns cleaning and repairing them, but there is an increasing number of people who want to free-ride on such well-intentioned mutual-help (there may also be ignorant people who do not know such circumstances).

A neighborhood association that took a firm stance of not allowing those who withdrew from the association to free-ride (free-ride on the goodwill of those in the association who provide services such as taking turns cleaning) ended up in a dispute with a resident who demanded to be allowed to use it, leading to a lawsuit.

The result was a ruling that one should pay 15,000 yen as a usage fee for the garbage station instead of paying the neighborhood association fee. (Since I am only reading the article, I do not know if the economic value of the unpaid service portion of the neighborhood association members was calculated.)

With the spirit of mutual-help broken, it is expected that troubles between those who want to free-ride by taking advantage of goodwill and neighborhood associations will continue to increase. In cases where one does not want to provide services for the public, the ruling that one should pay for the use of goodwill was also a judgment that makes us think about the future of mutual-help.

But, instead of settling things in court, couldn't we draw out the initiative of the residents and solve it through dialogue rather than conflict (some political party also said 'solution over confrontation', didn't they)?

It was also a report that makes one think about such things.

But Japan is not a lost cause either. Mr. Nyumon, a Kitakyushu city employee and representative of the NPO Sukiccha Kitakyushu
, is trying to spread the basics of disaster prevention widely through initiatives that incorporate play elements called "Asobousai," and is also struggling with mutual-help in neighborhood associations and PTAs.The initiative below👇 is wonderful, and I think it can be a reference anywhere in the country.

I think the struggle to make the PTA (public-help) sustainable for the benefit of the group is a wonderful initiative. Isn't the approach of providing a wide range of options for everyone something that can serve as a reference?

I will also introduce the struggle record of Keiko-san, who is also struggling as a team leader.

Well then, until next time.

Thank you for reading until the end.
If you like, please click the 'Like' button 🤍😊😊
If you could leave a comment, I would jump for joy😂😂

🌳A series on making memories with Grandpa and his granddaughter🌳
[Grandpa's Grumbles]

🌳Grandpa's initial 3-post set + era reflection series🌳
What were you doing at that time? (1985–2020)
[Japan-US Growth Gap] ~Japan will definitely make a comeback~
[The Blind Spot of Climate Change] ~What only Japan, a forest-rich nation, can do~
[Let's Save the Earth Together] ~The decarbonized society will be created by you, Gen Z~

🌳A series where Grandpa picks up information from central government websites, etc.🌳
[Grandpa Saw It!] Site Map Part 1
[Grandpa Saw It!] Site Map Part 2

🌳Grandpa's current events Senryu series🌳
[Note Senryu]

🌳A series of stories that moved Grandpa🌳
[Grandpa is moved!]

😄Please support Grandpa, the Gen Z cheering squad😄
Self-introduction of Grandpa, the Gen Z cheering squad!?

For other things,please see the [Grandpa's Odds and Ends] magazineorthe [Grandpa's Preparations] magazine.