By Liu Wenzhang, People’s Daily
On a Saturday afternoon in Tokyo’s Nishishinjuku, a long line snaked along the street, as people waited to receive free food distributed by a local nonprofit organization.
Volunteers handed out bread, bananas, tomatoes, compressed biscuits, and ready-to-eat rice, while also offering lifestyle advice, health guidance, and legal assistance.
Those in the queue included elderly seniors, mothers with young children, office workers, and even whole families who had turned to the charity for assistance.
This was not an emergency disaster relief operation. The charity has been running regularly every week for more than six years, and over time, the people seeking assistance have expanded well beyond the homeless to include a growing number of ordinary working individuals who still struggle to maintain a decent standard of living.
The steadily lengthening queues offer a stark illustration of the mounting pressures facing many people in Japan.
The contrast between Tokyo’s bustling commercial center and the long lines for food assistance is striking. Beneath the polished image of prosperity often associated with a developed economy, deeper social strains in Japan are becoming increasingly difficult to ignore.
According to the latest Comprehensive Survey of Living Conditions released by Japan’s Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, the country’s relative poverty rate stands at 15 percent. Meanwhile, Japan’s Labour Force Survey released by its Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications showed that non-regular employees accounted for 36.5 percent of the country’s workforce in 2025. Many workers face prolonged wage stagnation, insecure employment and inadequate social protection.
Rising poverty reflects the combined impact of population aging, industrial restructuring and policy choices, while long-term structural policy imbalances have become a major factor behind the persistence of these challenges.
The aggressive fiscal stimulus program pursued by the Sanae Takaichi administration has boosted capital markets in the short term, but it has failed to address the structural weaknesses of Japan’s economy. Instead, it has added to the long-term burden on the public by shifting policy costs and potential risks into the future.
Inflation continues to drive up living costs while real wage growth remains weak. At the same time, the prolonged depreciation of the yen has eroded household purchasing power and squeezed domestic demand as well as the operating space for small and medium-sized enterprises.
According to figures released by Japan’s Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications in July, real household consumption expenditures among two-or-more-person households fell year on year for the sixth consecutive month in May, reflecting the combined effects of persistent inflation and continued instability in the Middle East. Households have increasingly chosen to cut discretionary spending while prioritizing essential needs.
While public spending on people’s livelihoods has remained under pressure, Japan’s defense budget has continued to reach new record highs.
Since fiscal year 2023, defense spending has risen steadily — from 6.8 trillion yen ($43.5 billion) in fiscal year 2023 to 7.9 trillion yen in fiscal year 2024, 8.7 trillion yen in fiscal year 2025, and more than 9 trillion yen for the first time in fiscal year 2026.
These substantial resources have been directed toward military expansion in support of Japan’s pursuit of what it describes as becoming a “normal country.” Meanwhile, fiscal space for social welfare has been squeezed, exposing growing shortcomings in the country’s social security system.
A number of Japanese media outlets have noted that nonprofit organizations are increasingly filling gaps left by public welfare programs, with the growing food relief lines serving as a visible reminder of the limitations of the existing social safety net.
The widening disconnect between government priorities and the concerns of ordinary people has become a key factor behind growing social divisions in Japan.
A recent nationwide poll conducted by Kyodo News reflected these public concerns. According to the survey, 57.2 percent of respondents opposed lifting the ban on exports of lethal weapons.
Meanwhile, 70.5 percent called on the government to introduce stronger measures to promote energy conservation and improve energy efficiency, while 70.6 percent expressed concern over shortages of naphtha — a petroleum product derived from crude oil and an essential feedstock for manufacturing plastics, synthetic fibers and other chemical products.
The government’s continued emphasis on military expansion over people’s livelihoods appears increasingly out of step with public expectations.
What the Japanese people most urgently want are effective measures to cope with rising prices and ensure stable supplies of energy and essential materials, not ever-rising defense budgets or political efforts to advance constitutional revision.
As Japan expands defense spending, food relief lines keep growing
