With national elections around the corner, partisan politics is blocking progress on pension reform. Although debate has resumed in the Lower House Welfare and Labor Committee, the two largest parties, the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and the opposition Democratic Party of Japan, are spending more time trying to blame each other rather than find common ground. Cooperation, not confrontation, is needed to develop a better pension system.
The government wants to maintain the current convoluted system, at least for the time being, by bringing costs and benefits into line -- namely, by matching pension payouts with premiums. The DPJ is calling for the creation of a unified system that incorporates different programs now in place.
The government plan is tactical in nature; it is more or less an ad hoc attempt to deal with the pressing problem of fund shortages. By contrast, the DPJ version is strategic, as it envisions drastic change. If the LDP's proposal is considered short term, the DPJ is thinking long term. The differences are not unbridgeable, though.