The recent revelations that seven Cabinet ministers, as well as the current and former leaders of the largest opposition party, have been delinquent in paying their mandatory pension premiums have further fueled public distrust of the basic public pension framework.
"This has made the public start thinking (seriously) about the pension system and they are coming to realize the deficiencies of the system," political commentator Minoru Morita said.
In an effort to deflect some of the criticism, the Cabinet members implicated in the fiasco have begun blaming clerical errors and the complexity of the system for their wrongs.