On June 2nd, I had the pleasure of chairing the seventh “Protect the Lives of Mothers and their Children” awareness meeting. The gathering was to discuss the relationship between mothers and their offspring and the problems they still face in the world. The first speaker, Mrs. Ikegami, the head of the Tokyo Office of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), discussed what needed to be done to promote the well being of women around the world, specifically in impoverished nations. The UNFPA is concerned with increasing women’s rights and privileges throughout third world nations. The UNFPA provides relief aid that is specifically designed for their designated areas, such as prayer mats for the women of Sumatra. The main speaker, Mrs. Kita, who is the president of the Japanese Red Cross Kyushu International College of Nursing, spent most of the conference describing what is needed to be done in order to help impregnated women. She used the United Kingdom as a template of how women’s care has increase over the last few hundred years. With the advent of antibiotics and medical tests, an increase in the welfare of mothers can easily be seen. However, this is not a ubiquitous phenomenon, as Mrs. Kita discussed the high mortality rates of woman during childbirth in Africa and other parts of the world. The issue of the high IMR (Infant Mortality Mate) and the MMR (Mother Mortality Rate) is not discussed with much fervor in some parts of the world, and it is our duty to help enlighten this important issue to the populace of Japan and to others around the world. Even in Japan there are still risks in pregnancies, and we must do all we can to lessen the mortality rate of all mothers. The pregnant women around the Tohoku area stricken by the earthquake are not receiving adequate housing, as stated by Dr. Andou, another panellist in the conference, and for the future of Japan, the protection of the mothers and their unborn children are our highest priority.
The Skilled Veterans Coprs 6/02/2011
To all those who have suffered from the great Tohoku earthquake, we give our deepest condolences from the bottom of our hearts. Since the earthquake, we have all been working to help alleviate the dire situation in the Tohoku area. With your help, we can safely rebuild Japan into a stronger nation than before. One of the solutions that has been devised is a project that I strongly support; the Skilled Veterans Corps. Retired engineers and other skilled workers have banded together in order to take over control of the facilities in Fukushima in place of the younger workers. The Skilled Veterans Corps wish to work in the disabled power plants, stating that “The older generation is more suited for this type of job, as they will not be affected by the radiation as much as the younger generation.” By May 23rd, 961 participants have signed up for the movement, and now this number has reached to over a 1000 (of which 165 are engineers and 796 are other supporters). However, they need the support of the Japanese government to realize their goal. I am fully behind this project, and have lent my voice to their cause, organizing meetings repeatedly with other members of the House of Councillors. The Skilled Veterans Corps have become nationally known, and other foreign media such as BBC and CNN have written articles about the volunteer group, making it known around the world. In order to protect the future of the young engineers and workers around Fukushima and their children, we are counting on the Skilled Veterans Corps to succeed. To watch the meetings pertaining to the Skilled Veterans Corps, please click on the videos below:Implementing Public Interest Tax System. Tax system revision 2010.
(Lowering the applicable minimum on donation from 5,000JPY to 2,000JPY to qualify for tax deduction )
The “culture of donation” in Japan can develop from government planning such as the tax system”!
Some people may question “Why talk about donation in such time of declining economy?” “Because we are in such time of crisis, we need to highlight those NPOs which devote their works to those who are suffering”, Hiroe Makiyama answers. There is one obstacle for NPOs. Namely, the “Tax deduction issue” for donation. Under the Japanese tax system, donation minimum to qualify for tax deduction was 5,000JPY when filing an income tax return. In Japan, the number of authorized NPOs which qualify for donation tax deduction is merely 122 (as of March 2010).
As a leading country of donation culture, United States has no minimum to qualify for donation tax deduction. Thus even a penny would qualify. In the U.S., the number of authorized NPOs which qualify for tax deduction amounts to over 1.13 million.
If the public interest is sufficiently high, taking for example the need for inheriting traditional culture, such an organization may be authorized for tax deduction. This can be seen in the example of the New York Opera, where its membership fee qualifies for tax deduction. I have been proposing that likewise in Japan, Sumo, Kabuki, and sports should be taken into account.
Finally, this proposal by Hiroe Makiyama was included in the “Public Interest Tax System” under Tax System Outline 2010 after the political power shift from LDP to DPJ.
With the lowering of applicable minimum to 2000 yen, I am more than hoping that donation to public organizations will increase and consequently help activate civic action.
I will continue to make effort to increase authorized NPOs of high public interest which qualify for tax deduction.
Save our Health Care System from declining!
2010 Revision of Medical Service Fee
(Specific Departments: Department of Obstetrics, Department of Pediatrics, Emergency Department)
Hiroe Makiyama would like to regenerate our collapsing Health Care System. In order to do so, Makiyama has continued to stress that income of doctors belonging to departments under scarcity should be raised as a short term goal and that improvement should be made on the education of doctors and the regional disparities of presence of doctors as mid to long term goals.
In the Finance and Monetary Committee, Makiyama presented one idea --- that is to offer tax benefits to doctors belonging to departments under scarcity. When we were an opposing party, this idea had been ignored. However, after the power shift to DPJ, this was actualized by way of 2010 Revision of Medical Service Fee.
One thing is to start from what is actually possible to do. Hiroe Makiyama’s challenges continue.
Protecting Household Budget from Increasing cost of Imported Flour
Actualized in April 2009
(Cost of Imported Flour controlled by the government is decreased by 20%)
“Cup Noodles are 400 yen.” When Prime Minister Aso replied to Makiyama’s question, every mass media aired this response. The main purpose of the question was to inquire “whether the government could decrease the cost of flour which the government controls. “ She asked this because if this could be actualized, it would certainly affect the lives of people.
