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| Record of President's Speech（President Hiroshi Matsumura at the Training for New Employees） |
| We need to understand the philosophy of Suisen Fukushikai in relation
to the history of Japanese Social Welfare. Today the word “Social Welfare”-Shakai
Fukushi- is used most, but before World War II, “Social Work”-Shakai Jigyo-
was commonly used. Today, activities of the wider concept of Social Welfare
are based on that of Social Work. People who have studied Japanese History may know that citizens were committed to support people who had difficulties to live in a society before WWII, the time when “Social Work” and ”Charity Work” were commonly used. There was almost no public support at that time. First we must understand this history. |
＜Social Work in Osaka Prefecture＞
| Osaka is called the birthplace of Social Work. Throughout Japan, Osaka
stands out in. Specifically, there are more institutions in Osaka, and
non-institutional social work activities have progressed further. Osaka
is a very unique and proud prefecture. Many social activities in the history
of the Japanese Social Work/Social Welfare were established in Osaka. Consider
the kinds of people who pioneered these social activities in Osaka. There are three features. First, benefactors such as representatives of temples and churches, as well as many private donors, were able to accomplish social activities, especially in Osaka. Second, the origins of newspapers’ social work lie in Osaka. It is unique to Osaka that newspaper companies such as Asahi or Mainichi would create such public welfare organizations and social welfare organization on a global scale. This is one of the good features of Japanese Newspapers. The social welfare and cultural activities organized in Japan are different from other news media in the world. Third, policemen were instrumental in accomplishing social work in Osaka. Before WWII, policemen often visited door to door to be familiar with a citizen’s domestic situation. Policemen had their own ledger which stated who lived there and what kind of job they had. In Japan, policemen posted at substations grasped the area’s circumstances well enough so that if somebody committed a crime, they could use their familiarity to quickly catch him/her. They visited door to door a couple times in a year to check whether the person still lived there or if a stranger had moved in, and where he/she was from. Policemen don’t do that these days because of different attitudes about invasion of privacy, but policemen visiting each house is key to grasping the reality of situation in the house. Policemen watched the reality of some families who didn’t have anything to eat or struggled to live day by day. Therefore they felt compelled to do something for these families as the fellow member of the community. It was a time when Japan was poor, so this system likely supported many people who were living on the edge of starvation. Today, there are institutions for homeless people and single mothers and children in Osaka. They were built by policemen who used their own income with the inclination to support them. The largest numbers were benefactors who used their own income. This allowed a support system for counseling local citizens in need to be established. Old and historical institutions prior to the Second World War existing in Osaka are a direct result of these situations. I can recommend several documents about it if you would like to know more. |
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＜Philosophy of "Settlement"＞
| This movement was led to a philosophy or spirit of “Settlement”. I will
now talk about the history of “Settlement”. In around 1870, the Industrial
Revolution brought with it great poverty in England. Poor people built
a slum called East town in London and lived there, similar to Kamagasaki
in Osaka. These poor people grouped together in this one place. It caused
the public to fear about the area. As you may know, Charles Chaplin had
grown up there when he was a child. Samuel Barnett, a student of Oxford University and also a priest, stood up for helping the residents of the London slums. He lived there and took leadership of various relief services. Toynbee Hall, the first settlement house in London still remains today. Toynbee was a friend of Barnett who brought up the idea to recruit students for the relief works. He was an economist. He died at an early age, so the settlement’s name was taken from his name. There are vocational aid centers, cram schools for children, and clinics. These social services inspired similar organizations worldwide. Japan was getting along with England under the Anglo-Japanese Alliance at that time. Japanese people went to study in England and brought what they learned back to Japan. Japan had a lot of poverty issues, and there were many slums at that time. Therefore Japanese people introduced new ideas from England to aid their own poor. Settlement houses were built all over in Osaka, and they remain an important institution even now. Many Japanese went to observe Toynbee Hall. The list of names remains. Famous people from Pre-war periods are on it. You will find many famous people on the list. The Toynbee settlement inspired many Japanese to establish similar settlements in their home country. It is called, “Rinpo Jigyo” in Japanese. There were various social activities in Osaka. Even if there was not a real institution, people used an empty house in order to give services. |
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＜In the Institutionalized Social Welfare＞
| Japanese social work has developed from the effort of these many people.
After WWII, various laws were established such as Public Assistance Act,
People with Disabilities Welfare Act, Child Welfare Act, and Child and
Maternal Welfare Act, and the word, “Social Work” changed to “Social Welfare”.
The Laws extended to Social Welfare 6 Acts and to Social Welfare 8 Acts.
It changed into that government made the system and guaranteed for supporting
various social welfare activities. Before that, private benefactors provided those social welfare activities in the settlement movement. People who had been working with philosophy of “Settlement” felt that the settlement activities were done, and we played our role from a historical angle, because now it was the time for social welfare and social security service. Then they organized the convention and were dismissed with a declaration that we were done. Humorously, after the WWII, residents even requested the number of daycare centers to equal the number of post offices. Therefore new institutions including daycare centers gradually increased. But the presidents of these new institutions didn’t have any knowledge and understanding of philosophy and spirit of the English settlements. They were merely subcontractors who worked with money the government and local governments provided. They became passive with their current situation, and didn’t make extra development efforts. All over the country, they turned into simple salary-men who only did as much work as required by national law. 90% of Japanese welfare workers have come to think that we need to work only within a certain range of the budget. It is developing into a situation in public institutions where prefectural governments and municipality manage directly. When public employees work social services, they tend to only work during office hours and don’t work extra. If they do extra work, it may cause unintended harm. Then that influenced on private organization. After gradually expanding from the late 60’s, it became pervasive in the 80’s and the 90’s. As I said before, Osaka was the birthplace of Social Work, so people who made an effort in the settlement movement of the past were still active after WWII. Even through the shift to era of Social Welfare, they were still standing out in the 60’s and 70’s. The advantage for Osaka is that despite evolution of a new system, there were leaders who worked hard on the front line until around the 70’s. These are the people from whose example we have learned. When we were young, we were guided and treated kindly by them. From them, we have experienced what social welfare is and what the real social work is. The nationwide organization of the settlement dissolved at the Osaka convention of 1957, but the new organization “The Osaka Settlement Research Association” was created in Osaka and took on the responsibilities of the previous body. There is a history of people gathering and studying there. The research association eventually became the Osaka City Community Center Research Association and later, the Osaka City Area Welfare Institution Association. In other words, we have throughout our history aspired to maintain local welfare, even as nationwide organizations disbanded. Osaka has a great history in Japan in that this strong organization which seeks to keep the spirit of “Settlement” and ensure that members share this vision still exists. |
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＜Historical Social Work of "Kita Shimin-kan" (North Community Center)＞
| The office of the Settlement Research Association has become “The Museum
for Living” in Tenroku now, but it used to be a building called “North
Community Center”. This is a famous institution of the settlement. Around the Taisho period, the price of rice went up, and there was nothing to eat because of natural disasters. The residents of the area around Toyama or Niigata rose up in riot, expanded and it occurred in Osaka too. Houses were burning everywhere and life became very hard for many citizens. In response, the Mayor of Osaka City asked rich people to donate to establish a public assistance foundation. He used part of these funds and founded the settlement “Kita Shimin-kan” (North Community Center). The director of “Kita Shimin-kan” was personally selected by the Mayor of Osaka City. He was an economist in Tokyo University and studied different settlement movements around the world. His name is Shinato Shiga. In his book, he speaks of often going to public baths and discovering what residents in the area really thought about life in Osaka. People could talk frankly about their problems and concerns in this environment. The residents didn’t come all the way to the center, so instead he went into the town to root out problems, and then create a practical response. It was equivalent to Toynbee Hall in London. This symbol of Osaka’s pride should have remained, but public officials in Osaka after WWII didn’t understand the value of that building tore it down and built worthless show space for housing. Even now people question why they shouldn’t have preserved the building. When I spoke to top-level public officials, they said as buildings' age they become a safety hazard. However, as they say this the also reinforce and renovate Chuokokaido in Nakanoshima, because it is an important building. “Kita Shimin-kan” ( North Community Center) was a nice building. They could have kept the building if they reinforced the structure for fire and an earthquake, but instead they thoughtlessly destroyed it. It was very disappointing to see our struggle against this end in vain. Now, a model of that building is displayed in the hall of Social Welfare Training Center in Nishinari. Despite the fact these memorial buildings were destroyed, there are still many people who hold onto the spirit of “Settlement” and work for social welfare in Osaka. |
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＜Before all else, we will help ease the problems that exist before our eyes＞
| Our main job is to work directly with the people and areas that receive our assistance. For example, in daycare centers, it is normal for parents to ask us to care for their children so that they may work and support their family. Now, this is typical for a normal daycare center. However, when you take care of children often, you notice deeper problems in children’s lives. These problems are caused by the various relationships around the person, as are all social welfare problems, so the problem often doesn’t originate with the children themselves. It is not the individual’s problem. The problem as we see, it is originating the environment of the person’s daily life. Therefore it is necessary to thoroughly understand the individual’s circumstances and provide specific support to solve the problem. Simply treating the effects is not a sufficient solution to this problem. When you look after children, you see many problems which are related to the parent-child relationship, married couple’s relationship, and the state of their community. Naturally the idea is to support children by thinking together with their parents. That is our organization’s true purpose. In general, public organizations care for the child’s immediate problems and ignore the issues in the family and community which caused the problems originally. For example, when the child becomes five, he or she graduates daycare center and moves on to an elementary school. After he or she graduates, staffs at most daycare center often say to themselves, “Oh, our job is done.” However, it is clearly not the case that the child becomes independent the moment after graduating from daycare center. Because in his or her heart, they are still the child looked after all day by adults up until yesterday. Parents are wondering whether they should quit their jobs or not, because in the end they are the ones responsible for protecting their child’s wellbeing. Standard daycare centers don’t want to deal with children’s problems outside of the daycare center environment. They think this is the parents’ problem, and what happens afterward is of no concern to them. However, we must do something for protecting the quality of the child’s parents’ life as well. If so, we need to think about after school daycare. We have written in our magazine “Kazenoko 40nen” that we consider Tatsuko Miki to be an important person to this cause. She was a president of the Settlement Research Association in the 60’s. We respect her contributions greatly. On top of page 2, it is written “About Ms. Miki…” She said, if there is a social welfare problem, it is our duty to tackle it, no matter what. Her conviction was that people and money would follow her lead. She did not, however, have the expectations that money and resources would be available right from the start. Naturally, these things come after much hard work. First, we must help out those persons in need, no matter what. This is the philosophy of “Settlement”. We have been working in accordance with this idea up until now. We feel that we would never be able to effect real social welfare change at all unless we recognize people in suffering need our hands and we need to sacrifice ourselves for supporting them, no matter what. In any era, there is a basic human nature; tenderness between fellow humans. This is our basic philosophy. After WWII, the tendency is to ask government to pay money and respond immediately to the demand for various human rights. According to the Japanese constitution, Article 25; all people shall have the right to maintain the minimum standards of wholesome and cultured living (eiyaku.hounavi.jp/taiyaku/s21ak000010101.php). It is necessary for all Japanese citizens to have the right to maintain health and happiness. If we are to keep pursuing the idea that the government and public offices are solely responsible for maintaining a minimum standard of lifestyle quality for the people, we forget about our responsibility as citizens. People will lose motivation for helping each other and acting selflessly for people in need before their eyes. If we are all passive about such things, selfish interests and demands on an overworked government take precedence. There is no expectation to develop social welfare in those situations. If people in the social welfare field also took this same attitude, the act of supporting one’s community out of personal responsibility may die out. Because if people work only in range of their duties, we will do no more than routine tasks during our duty hours, and work no more than follow the minimum amount required by law. If people are asked to do more than the smallest degree necessary, they will need a guarantee of purpose. If not, they won’t do it of their own will. However, the climate of social change beginning in the 60’s and 70’s gradually spread all over in Japan in the early days of the Heisei period; around the 90’s. In the last 5-6 years, I assume you have studied at school that basic structural reforms of social welfare have occurred, and that we have entered an era where dated systems and ideas are being shaken up. People realized they have to value the spirit of living side-by-side; living together; coexistent in a community. Therefore, now is the time to seize the chance to spread our philosophy by inserting it into institutional reform. The self-examination has led welfare ideas to swing like a pendulum back to the philosophy of “Settlement” and a return to the ideas our organization has espoused. This movement occurs all over in Japan, and we see that it is natural. After a brief hiatus, we have returned to where we began. |
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＜Through daily work＞
| This is the essence of the Social work Philosophy of Suisen Fukushikai. Though I have spoken very generally today, if you can relate various experiences in the current circumstances of Japan to our Social work Philosophy, you will understand more deeply the reasons for our long existence. This is not to say that if you don’t understand the deep philosophy, you cannot work. It is natural for most people to comprehend our philosophy only after experiencing it for themselves. Of course, the theory doesn’t always come first. I think it is very important to face our problems directly and work by being aware of issues around us in order to understand them. We shouldn’t work at the same old routines every day. Progress is impossible if you don’t try to find issues consciously during work. Solving each issue should lead you to a new challenge in need of a solution. I’d like you to understand our job is always new and alive. Every day, your work is new. You see the difference, if you look back on what you have accomplished in a month or a year, even it feels the same day by day. You’re going to have more incentive to go through the stage of your work in different way; this year is better than last year, and next year will surely be better than this year. We’d like you to do your best by having that point of view. |
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＜Addendum＞
| Masako Matsumura, Director-general/Executive Director of "Kazenoko
Sodachien" I used to work at the Social Welfare Association when I was young. Katsue Kobashi, who was the one of social workers before WWII at Hakuaisha, foster home, often visited, and I had an opportunity to talk to her occasionally. I would like to tell everyone her words because they have stayed with me even after all this time. There was the time when Ms. Kobashi was commended for something. Then she said, “I would like to decline the offer, because I don’t want to be commended by those public officers who salary. Hakuaisha is a very old foster home. Kobashi founded the institution in order to help people who didn’t have anywhere else. I had been living with these children together by cultivating vegetable fields when we didn’t have foods. I had been able to help these children thrive by cultivating the earth, and we managed everything including foods by ourselves. One day, Ms. Kobashi asked me, “Ms. Kato (my maiden name), do you know why I am so energetic?” So I asked her, “Why is that?” She answered, “I always eat the same meals as these young children at my foster home. She told me, “I am energetic, because I eat nutritious foods for growing children!” She’d put furniture when she got married into a 10 tatami-mat wide room in the old building of Hakuaisha. She’d used only that room, living there. I would like to tell you that we are influenced by the spirit of those old Social Workers. |
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