In this blog, it will discuss ‘Well-being’ in Japan.

‘Well-being’ has been advocated in many definitions. The word itself is said to have started to spread in 1947 when the WHO Constitution was declared.

‘Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity’ (WHO)

Meanwhile, how can the Well-being in Japan be considered?

OECD measures Well-being by using the 11 points below;  

1. Income and Wealth 2. Housing 3. Work and Job Quality 4. Health 5. Knowledge and Skills 6. Environmental Quality 7. Subjective Well-being 8. Safety 9. Work-life Balance 10. Social Connections 11. Civic Engagement.

The points that Japan is highly rated are 3. Work and Job Quality, 4. Health, 5. Knowledge and Skills and 8. Safety.

Detailed measurement criteria are Employment rate for 3. Work and Job Quality, Life Expectancy for 4. Health, Student skills (maths) for 5. Knowledge and Skills and Homicides for 8. Safety.

Please note that because only one measurement criterion is set, having highly rated does not mean that all the elements related to the points are good.

In addition, there is a case that the highly rated points could have a gap/inequality between the upper and lower classes.

For example, while 5. Knowledge and Skills are highly rated, the inequality there is still great. The inequality in terms of knowledge and skills is the ‘students with low skills’. This can be explained by the academical gap depending on people.

Furthermore, Well-being is set in SDG3 of ‘Good Health and Well-being’ and also importantly focused on multiple global companies.

As such improving Well-being will greatly impact accomplishing Pax Japonica, which will lead the world. Our institute will strive to improve and increase awareness of Well-being through our social contribution projects of education, such as opening a seminar for students at the University of Tokyo.

The next blog will talk about the lack of points of Well-being in Japan.

Reference:

OECD. 2022. How’s Life in Japan. Available at < How’s Life in Japan? | How’s Life? 2020 : Measuring Well-being | OECD iLibrary (oecd-ilibrary.org)> [Accessed on 12 July 2022].

RIJAG

Yoko Nakano, Social Contribution Group