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12 US-China L. Rev. 1 (2015)

handle is hein.journals/uschinalrw12 and id is 1 raw text is: US-CHINA LAW REVIEW VOL. 12 January 2015 NO. 1 POLICY DISCOURSE, FRAMING, AND THE 2004 PENSION REFORM IN JAPAN: RETHINKING VICE INTO VIRTUE THEORY Masato Shizume* The 2004 pension reform in Japan had replaced the defined benefits structure with defined contribution structure. The pension benefits would be reduced by 15%for not only future pensioner but also current pensioner. In the retrenchment, policymaker made voter's eye turn to burden phase rather than benefit phase by insisting policy discourse, such as intergenerational equity. Furthermore, a new policy choice, which imposes fewer burden than the worst scenario, was presented. As a result, they were able to avoid the blames from the voters even if the voters will endure more burdens and receive fewer benefits after the reform. IN TRO D U CTIO N ............................................................................................. 1 I. PROSPECT THEORY, FRAMING, AND POLITICAL DECISION-MAKING IN U N PO PULA R R EFORM ...................................................................................... 3 II. THE IDEAS AND FRAMING IN JAPAN'S 2004 PENSION REFORM ................... 7 A. The New Policy Idea and the Shift of Reference Point ............. 7 B. Pension Committee in Social Security Council: The Member and D iscussion ................................................................................................. 9 C. Quantitative Content Analysis of the PCSSC Minutes ............... 12 III. BARGAINING WITHIN GOVERNMENT PARTIES ..................................... 15 A. Manifest of the 2003 Lower House Election ........................... 15 B. Reactions of Public Pension Stakeholders ............................. 17 C O N CLU SIO N ............................................................................................. 19 INTRODUCTION The Japanese pension reform in 2004 leads to huge retrenchment. It replaced a defined benefits system-in which benefits were expressed as a proportion of earnings over a given number of years-with a defined contribution structure according to which benefits would depend on the total * Professor, Faculty of Social Sciences, Ritsumeikan University. Research fields: Social Policy. doi: 10.17265/1548-6605/2015.01.001