TOKYO — The Japanese government is expected to hold discussions until the end of the year on revising social benefits, which had been postponed for two years due to soaring prices. Meanwhile, welfare recipients are struggling to make ends meet, and one told the Mainichi Shimbun how cornered she was.

The woman, a Tokyo resident in her 50s, has been on welfare for about four years. Recent price increases have cast a shadow over the lives of those in a vulnerable situation like her. She visits a nearby supermarket at 8 p.m. three days a week to look for groceries with half-price stickers. To reduce her electricity bill this summer, she refrained from using the air conditioner even though the room temperature reached 36 degrees Celsius, and only used an electric fan to beat the heat. With a monthly benefit of just under 70,000 yen (about $450), no matter how much she saves, she only has 2,000 yen (about $13) left.

In 2018, while working as an office worker, she was diagnosed with fibromyalgia, a condition that makes daily life difficult due to severe pain throughout the body. She was diagnosed with another illness a few years earlier and had to cover medical expenses that reached 100,000 yen (about $645) per month with her savings and other assets, but her savings ran out and she even had to quit her job in 2019 due to drug side effects.

The social worker at her hospital applied for welfare on her behalf and she no longer has to pay medical bills out of pocket. However, the current high cost of living is putting a strain on her lifestyle and she can barely afford food. When an acquaintance who had supported her died, she could not even prepare enough money to pay for the funeral offering.

Last August, in a supermarket, she met a woman in her sixties who was also receiving social benefits. The woman told him she came to the store every day until closing to cool down because she couldn’t get the air conditioner in her house repaired.

In August this year, she stopped seeing the elderly woman, who was supposed to be there every day. She later learned that the woman had died of heat stroke at her home.

She had also suffered a collapse from heat stroke while at home. She told the Mainichi, “If I don’t speak, I will die like her.” I want people to know that, unlike work, these circumstances make it difficult for a human being to live a normal life, or even a normal life at all. socialize with others at the minimum level.

(Japanese original by Naohiro Koenuma, Lifestyle News, Science and Environment Department)