Japan government gives 100,000 yen cash handout to all

Sgtalpowell wrote: ↑ The Japanese government is considering whether to extend 100,000 yen ($933 USD) each to all people regardless of income as part of efforts to cushion the economic impact of the coronavirus crisis, officials said Wednesday.

The government has already decided to give 300,000 yen to households suffering from income drops due to the spread of the coronavirus as part of the country's largest-ever 108 trillion yen economic stimulus package. But critics say the scheme is not clear-cut in terms of which households are eligible.

When the stimulus package was put together, Komeito proposed a program to give 100,000 yen each to people hit by income falls but it was not included.

https://english.kyodonews.net/news/2020 ... o-all.html


My Japanese friends are happy to hear that.

jeff1970 wrote: ↑I think we could also take this in the context as why isn't Canada doing the same for everybody. We have those that are still "working" and can't qualify for CERB, but may have lost a lot of money due to reduced hours, etc. For me, it cost me over $1,000 just in the first 4 weeks. Perhaps a onetime $1,000 non-taxable cheque for everyone over 18 would have been proper. Add $500 per child.

Just a thought.

xgbsSS wrote: ↑ Update:
https://news.livedoor.com/article/detail/18149926/
Registration forms will be mailed to registered addresses
Foreigners registered as residents in Japan are eligible for payment. Registration will require a copy of a photo ID.
Payments made by bank transfer. The transfer will b made to the registered owner of the address
The form can also be finished online if you have a "My Number" tax number
Japanese registered as abroad are not eligible (so not me )

Sgtalpowell wrote: ↑ Fly back to Japan immediately? All my Japanese friends went back early April.

xgbsSS wrote: ↑ Not worth it considering airfare, lost time work, quarantine there, quarantine back here. Besides I really dont need it :P
The form even mentions a spot to refuse the payment. Curious how many people select that

Sgtalpowell wrote: ↑ I guess you are very Canadianized. (having a good job, knows a lot about Canada and etc.)
My friends were just "expats" living in Canada.

xgbsSS wrote: ↑ Not so much Canadianized, moreso just Canadian with a lot chunk of my formal education in Canada, although I go back and forth. I have (illegally technically) both citizenships.
We are not a large immigrant group in Canada.

Sgtalpowell wrote: ↑
Don't worry about that part. The law in Japan about "dual citizenship" is vague on when it is necessary to give up your other citizenship.

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/community/ ... p9gG9WSnIU

xgbsSS wrote: ↑ While it would be nice to have a cash disbursement for all, I get the difference in policy between the two countries

In Japan, there is weak maternity/paternity leave for parents often rendering mothers to quit work to rear children or fathers to be denied any leave with pay. To effectively give benefit, targetting those with jobs only leaves many without benefits. As schools and daycares have closed, many of these mothers that do work have no leeway with work and are forced to quit or stay at home.

The Japanese populace is also facing less issues with furloughs and businesses stopping. It is occuring, but a large part of the population stIll under employment policies where they are getting paid, and/or businesses are still running. Not to mention record low unemployment means companies are stIll short employees. Corporations in Japan carry record amounts of cash On their balance sheet and are in general, less likely to go out of business.

Meanwhile, Canada with higher female work penetration means that targetted benefit for those working makes sense considering favourable politics toward those that work/pay income tax should benefit especially if they lost their job. Add to the fact the Canadian populace is extremely leveraged debt wise, they need a way to finance their obligations alot more than in Japan. Much of the service sector Is in a precarious position because of the fact that a majority of it is built on debt. Even landlords, mortgaging out expensive condos for extreme high rents means the majority Of paycheques In major centres like Toronto and Vancouver is there to finance rent payments or debt financing. A shock income drop means Canada is forced to provide a system to compensate for that lack of income since those that lost their job become precarious and that could cascade into bigger economic problems due to this leverage.

While it would be nice to have something like Japan, we have to remember Canada is already doing more dollar wise and they are targetting those with job losses, something that is happening more here than in Japan. WhIle I sympathise with your income loss, the point of policy is not to compensate for those losses, but rather to make sure those that really are in trouble are not left destitute. Canada in many ways is more precarious economically than Japan at the moment. They have to use any resources for economic stimulus wisely. CERB already is going to cost tens of billions of dollars considering it isn't a one time payment. The 100000yen ($1000ish) one-time payment isn't huge in comparison.

spike1128 wrote: ↑ Everyone's children will pay for it in the future. The boomers did this with gen X and gen Y. I am sure we can get gen Z and gen not born to pay it in the future. Isnt it why we get new immigrants and refugees to come. To pay for our pension?

PressureBoom wrote: ↑ So... how does this help Canadians?

xgbsSS wrote: ↑ Sure, if we are expecting the same benefits to be extended with longer life expectancies. More importantly the expectation of pension has to change. Previously this was insurance for old age, but as old age is more and more advanced, society has to change. Retiring at 65 should no longer be a given. If people are living to 80-90, it naturally must come that to get the same kind of benefits, people must pay more either through working longer or paying more in pension premiums.

The reason why immigrants are welcomed in countries like Canada is that population growth is a much easier way to grow and expand the tax base. In countries like Japan or many older European countries, you have more established and entrenched cultures which makes these policies less palatable to the overall population. That is fine, except if we expect the current benefits to be extended to the population, there needs to be higher births, higher taxes, lower benefits, or longer work expectations or combinations of these.

The whole thing is about mathematics. We have been very fortunate the last few decades with population growth and economic growth. We are reaching a point of slowed growth. In order to adjust that, our expectations of benefits have to adjust accordingly. This is not inherently a bad thing mind you. We can still live a high quality life despite these things.