From our other sites
The story
A thread on 5ch’s “Nanmoshi” (何でも実況, lit. “anything-goes live”) board blew up after a poster revealed they’d just entered their 10th year on seikatsu hogo — Japan’s public welfare/assistance program. The poster reportedly holds Grade 1 physical disability certification, and commenters quickly calculated that total payments over the decade have topped ¥20 million (roughly $133,000). The thread aired some quirks of the system — “benefits don’t stop even if you game or browse the internet all day,” “you can even travel abroad” — while also drawing skepticism over how strict the Grade 1 disability standard really is, and spiraling into a broader debate over whether minimum-wage workers or welfare recipients actually come out ahead financially.
What people said
If you can just play around and live off it, that's kind of enviable.
You can even travel abroad.
Japan's Constitution guarantees citizens the right to a healthy and "culturally" minimum standard of living.
So whether you game or browse the internet, they can't just cut your welfare off.
75% of it comes from the national treasury, so…
counting on you (taxpayers).
Having a job is really over, huh.
Payments have topped ¥20 million, after all.
And that's before you add in all the other disability perks.
Doesn't it hurt to get lectured by, or sighed at by, someone younger than you?
I have a doctor's note saying I'm unfit for work, so none of that happens.
Isn't that better than working and getting looked down on by someone younger every single day?
You barely even see your caseworker anyway — like once a year, if that.
Yep. The Grade 1 disability supplement is attached too, so the amount's bigger.
Grade 1 is supposed to mean you're in and out of hospital constantly, basically bedridden, and could die at any moment.
Kind of enviable, but honestly that's less than I expected.
Well, consider that it's all take-home — no taxes taken out.
Has that actually happened? lol
Come back and say that once it does.
If that ever happens, it means there's a global nuclear war going on, so it doesn't count.
Re: #17
Working and getting looked down on by someone younger every day is messed up though…
It's less about being looked down on every day and more that getting nagged by a caseworker once in a while beats piling up work stress daily, mentally speaking, no? If you don't see it that way, that's just a difference in perspective — no reason for either of us to be right or wrong about it.
• Daily living activities: Difficulty independently eating, bathing, maintaining hygiene, etc. — help from others is essential.
• Going out / mobility: Difficulty going to medical appointments or outside alone.
• Money / medication management: Difficulty managing these on one's own; constant support from others is needed.
• Employment status: Working is essentially impossible.
OP has the physical-disability Grade 1, right?
Grade 1 for a psychiatric disability means being unable to communicate at all.
There really are plenty of people like that in real life, so calling it fake certification based on this alone just shows ignorance.
Apparently the Grade 1 standard is what's in Re: #38 and Re: #41 — are there really that many people with depression or developmental disorders who get Grade 1?
You can sit this one out.
I'm asking the person who posted Re: #62.
Minimum wage is over ¥1,000/hour just about everywhere now, and people on welfare "work" way fewer hours than that, don't they — since they don't work at all.
The real question is: work 8 hours a day at ¥1,500/hour for 20 days a month, and how much do you actually end up with?
And then take taxes out of that — how much is actually left?
Just under ¥200,000, I'd say.
Workers can put the leftover into investments, so welfare still loses out — purely in money terms.
I have depression, so I can't always be cheerful and chatty with people like a normal working adult, and I have a developmental disorder, so there's forgetfulness and lateness too.
Maybe flesh out your backstory a bit more before you start your next thread.
You've never worked a day, so what are you even basing that on?
Plenty of people with depression or developmental disorders hold down jobs just fine.
They should be able to get it without any issue — maybe they just don't know how?
Too many apartments won't rent to you without a guarantor, even if you line up a guarantor company.
And places like "muteihaku" (free/low-cost lodging houses for the poor) are basically cramped box rooms with strict rules that a lot of people don't want to put up with. So some end up choosing homelessness instead.
Those types tend to be stubborn people who used to look down on welfare to begin with.
There are still tons of people like that around, right — the ones always bashing welfare recipients?
When people like that hit rock bottom, they can't bring themselves to go to the welfare office, so they end up homeless instead — or worse, they take their own lives.
I think a developmental disorder alone would be tough to qualify on, but severe depression can get you permanent certification, so…
With depression, a lot of people don't even get Grade 2, let alone Grade 1 — that's basically unheard of.
Grade 1 is almost entirely people with schizophrenia who are permanently committed to closed psychiatric wards.
Honestly, if you're only drawing the basic national pension (kokumin nenkin), I do wonder what your situation even was.
If anything, it's scarier that someone who worked a solid career can still only get around ¥200,000 from the employee pension (kosei nenkin), lol.
The basic national pension is garbage, sure, but I'm talking about the employee pension — factor in medical costs and welfare still wins out.
• Only 18.8% of (pension) recipients get ¥200,000 or more a month.
• Over 80% get less than ¥200,000 a month.
Background and the key points of debate
Under Japan’s welfare system, municipalities front the payments and the national treasury reimburses three-quarters of the cost, so the thread’s claim that “75% comes from the national treasury” is roughly accurate. Where opinion split was over how to read the Grade 1 disability certification standard. Grade 1 is meant for severe cases requiring constant care — cycling in and out of hospitalization, for instance — so some posters were skeptical that a psychiatric or developmental disorder could qualify someone for that grade, while others pushed back, noting that such certifications genuinely do exist. The thread also drifted into a simple comparison between a minimum-wage worker’s take-home pay and the total welfare payout, but it’s worth noting that actual welfare amounts vary widely depending on household makeup, region, and whether medical assistance is included — so the “¥20 million over 10 years” figure cited in the thread shouldn’t be read as a typical case.
*This article is compiled from excerpts and a summary of the 5ch (Nanmoshi board) thread “[Sad News] Me, a Welfare Recipient, Just Entered My 10th Year on Welfare lmaooooo.”
Leave a Reply