The present study analyzes the livelihood security system of contemporary Japan in international comparison from a historical and gender perspective. It posits 'livelihood security systems' rather than 'welfare states' or 'welfare regimes' as its object of analysis to enter the role of non-governmental institutions and of governmental policies reaching beyond income transfers into vision.

Based on rich statistical materials, the evolution of Japan's livelihood security system in recent decades is traced to reveal a rigid male breadwinner orientation increasingly out of step with...