4. A society with active participation by all

Next, I will speak about policy implementation for realizing a city with an advanced welfare system and building a society where everyone can actively participate.

A city with an advanced welfare system

The graying of the population is posing a significant challenge to Tokyo. The Tokyo Metropolitan Government will devote its full efforts to building an environment where parents can feel reassured about having and raising children and where citizens can continue living with peace of mind as they age.

Particularly serious is the shortage of manpower for child daycare and long-term care. We will provide comprehensive support that covers stages from unearthing such personnel to matching them with employers and reducing turnover. Other initiatives we will take include encouraging prospective graduates from schools training child daycare service providers to work at daycare centers or other such facilities, and providing long-term care service companies with subsidies to partially cover the cost of housing rented for their staff. What I spoke about earlier—making effective use of vacant housing—will also be part of this effort. We will work actively to secure and retain such manpower, which is key to realizing a city with an advanced welfare system. Recently, there have been many media reports about the senior citizens who fell to their death at a nursing house in Kawasaki City. To prevent a recurrence of such a tragedy, we will continue to give thorough guidance to nursing homes for the elderly in Tokyo.

In the area of child rearing, as part of our efforts to bring to zero the number of children on the waiting list to enter a daycare center, we are utilizing the National Strategic Special Zones scheme. Recently, our proposal to open a daycare center in Soshigaya Park, a metropolitan park in Setagaya Ward, was approved as a special zone project, following an earlier approval for a park in Arakawa Ward. We plan to further expand such efforts. To address the increasing number of child abuse cases, we will bolster the organization of child guidance offices by increasing child welfare officers and child psychologists.

As for the construction of special nursing homes for the elderly, our proposal was accepted, with requirements to be eased to allow operators to open such facilities using rented buildings. To address the issue of dementia, a comprehensive support center for early-onset dementia will be newly established in the Tama area, in addition to the existing one in the ward area, so that citizens can receive consultation on various problems at one place.

Healthcare functions will also be enhanced. Tokyo Metropolitan Hiroo Hospital will be relocated within Shibuya Ward, at a site that includes the former site of Aoyama Hospital, and rebuilt into a disaster medical center. We will advance preparations to open the new hospital, tentatively called the Tokyo Disaster Medical Center, in fiscal 2023. It will be capable of coping with natural disasters, NBC (nuclear, biological, and chemical) disasters, terrorist attacks, and other catastrophes. In the Tama area, Tokyo Metropolitan Neurological Hospital will be rebuilt and transformed into Tokyo’s medical center for intractable diseases. Centering on strengthening collaboration among the three metropolitan hospitals—Tama Medical Center, Children's Medical Center, and Neurological Hospital—we will reorganize the zone called Tama Medical Campus to further raise the level of healthcare services in the entire Tama area.

A society with the participation of all

Putting an end to the vicious cycle

As I mentioned, we must break the cycle of poverty. To this end, we will provide as much help as possible to people eager to study or work. We will carry out our own program to support municipalities’ efforts to prepare places where children are welcomed and given meals and assistance with their schoolwork. Within the Children- and Child Rearing-Related Policies Promotion Headquarters, which comprises members from relevant bureaus of our government, we will establish the Child Poverty Measures Promotion Subcommittee and implement various initiatives while also utilizing the study outcomes of the Tokyo Metropolitan University’s Research Center for Child and Adolescent Poverty.

For early achievement of the goal of turning 15,000 non-regular workers into regular workers in three years, we will, in the next fiscal year, substantially expand the amount of subsidies for companies engaged in making such transitions. With this program and other initiatives to support young people and those who graduated from school when the job market was tight, we aim to shift 7,500 workers a year to regular employment. In addition, we will strengthen measures to address truancy and dropping out of school so as to eliminate root causes forcing non-regular employment. In this way, we will work to break the cycle of poverty at various stages of life.

A society where everyone can participate fully

Promoting a work-life balance will enable people to lead fulfilling lives. We will enhance productivity by offering subsidies to employers striving to revamp employee work styles, and sending consultants to companies to give specific advice.

We will also build an environment where it will be easier for women, seniors, and people with disabilities to be more active. With the aim of creating a society where women shine, we recently compiled the White Paper on the Social Participation of Women, the first of its kind released by a local government of Japan. Based on analysis of the current situation, this white paper describes challenges to overcome and the directions of policies. We will also help active seniors to use their ample experience and knowledge to serve as volunteers at welfare facilities and in the community. To promote the stable employment of the disabled, we will launch our own program, ahead of the central government, to encourage companies to hire them as regular employees or for permanent positions, or to switch non-regular workers to these positions. The program will be designed to ensure improvement of the working conditions for the disabled by, for example, setting a minimum standard of wages.

A city where people can feel safe and secure

Next, I will speak about securing public safety and security.

Strengthening counterterrorism measures and ambulance services

Acts of international terrorism are increasing every year. We will strengthen our organization for public security by increasing the number of police officers and other means. Also, the threat of data being compromised by cyberattacks is becoming increasingly serious. Valuable technologies possessed by small and medium-sized companies may also be targeted. Last month, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, the Metropolitan Police Department, and organizations that support small businesses signed a mutual cooperation agreement. In a united effort by these various parties in Tokyo, we will work to raise awareness of and share information on cybersecurity, and establish a system for consultation. We will also nurture crisis management experts who can address matters comprehensively.

The number of ambulance dispatches in Tokyo has been reaching record highs over the past several years. Time is of the essence in medical emergencies. In places and areas where demand is high, we will flexibly mobilize rescue units to meet fluctuating demand. Since the end of last year, a rescue team has been deployed to Tokyo Station on a trial basis. We will examine the outcome of this trial and based on this, expand the area for full-scale operation of this arrangement to ensure that necessary emergency medical services are provided promptly and adequately.

Building a disaster-resilient city

Districts with close-set wooden houses are Tokyo’s biggest weakness in terms of disaster preparedness. To further advance fire resistance in those areas, we will revise the Urban Development Plan for Disaster-Resistance next month. We will proceed with the systematic construction of community roads to allow the passage of emergency vehicles and the evacuation of residents in the event of disaster. Also, we will encourage the reconstruction of buildings along roads to accelerate developments to boost fire resistance. Moreover, measures will be taken to prevent built-up areas from becoming areas with close-set wooden houses. These include urging municipalities to draw up district plans that keep land from being subdivided into smaller lots. To steadily advance all these efforts, in the final supplementary budget proposal for this fiscal year, we will appropriate an additional 200 billion yen for the Fund for Development of a Disaster Resilient City.

Condominiums are a key living arrangement in Tokyo, but there are concerns surrounding them, such as deterioration of buildings, aging of residents, and decreased capabilities of condominium associations. At the end of next month, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government will compile a plan to promote the creation of high-quality condominium stock, which will be the first of its kind in Japan. We will prevent condominiums from falling under poor management, improve the level of management, and encourage seismic retrofitting and rebuilding so as to enhance their quality.