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The story
A thread on 5ch’s “Nandemo Jikkyo G” (anything-goes live-commentary) board went viral after a poster claimed a welfare recipient had bought an iPhone 18 Pro. The purchase appears to have been made with savings rather than a loan, which sparked debate over the system’s rules on how much a welfare payment gets cut when a recipient saves money. Some argued that simply owning the phone isn’t a problem, noting that the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare classifies smartphones as necessary equipment for recipients’ self-reliance, while others questioned why such an expensive iPhone was chosen over cheaper alternatives — leaving the thread split.
What people said
If you're on welfare, saving money gets your benefit payments cut.
It's allowed up to a certain point — saving enough to swap phones like this is well within the limit.
Wasn't it fine up to a certain amount?
Up to ¥19,000 is the amount you can earn without it being deducted.
Reselling their prescription meds??
If that kind of hustle actually worked, everyone would be doing it.
That counts as income — if you get caught, it's deducted from your benefits, plus you'd get arrested for a crime.
It's the blue checkmark (ad revenue from a verified X/Twitter account).
You do know they're not given enough to save up in the first place, right?
Some people still manage to do it though.
Everyone's doing it — that's why people keep getting busted for it.
If people keep getting busted, then it's clearly not a working scheme.
That's just you being jealous.
That would just add unnecessary costs.
Handing out cash is the cheapest option by far.
A phone bought through the carrier's residual-value installment plan (the same financing trick used to lease a Toyota Alphard) should be fine, right?
You don't need to take a risk like that to save up — just cut back on food expenses instead.
Probably shouldn't be handing smartphones to people with mental health struggles in the first place, honestly.
Then maybe just don't give them welfare at all?
Dead serious, idiot.
These days, keeping a certain amount saved up is actually recommended, in case something happens.
You're allowed to save toward replacing appliances too.
If they could work, the welfare application wouldn't have been approved in the first place.
Why would someone in that situation need an iPhone? Getting their life back on track should come first.
The Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare has classified having a smartphone as important for recipients' self-reliance — it's treated as essential, if anything.
Out of all the phones out there, why the expensive iPhone? There are plenty of dirt-cheap phones available.
That's not really something other people get to decide for them.
They can buy whatever they want, can't they?
It's wild how they get talked into absurdly overpriced plans at the store.
The Pro-model rate is high too.
Background and Key Points of the Debate
Japan’s welfare system includes a “basic deduction” mechanism that lets recipients keep a certain amount of employment income without it affecting their benefits, and the figure cited in the thread appears to refer to this rule — a separate matter from any cap on savings themselves, though several posts in the thread conflated the two. In practice, planned saving toward a specific, concrete purpose (such as replacing a home appliance) is permitted, whereas paying in installments (effectively taking out a loan) is treated as debt and is generally restricted, since it counts toward income assessments and using benefits to repay debt is against the rules. The Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare also classifies smartphones as equipment necessary for recipients’ employment and self-reliance, meaning ownership itself isn’t considered a problem under the system. That said, how expensive an item can be while still counting as a “necessity” is largely left to the discretion of local caseworkers — and it’s this gray area in how the rules are applied that lies behind the thread’s divided opinions.
*This article is compiled as an excerpt and summary of the 5ch (“Nandemo Jikkyo G”) thread “[Image] Welfare Recipient Buys an iPhone 18 Pro! LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL.”
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