The Spirit of Self-Help

Taizo NISHIMURO Chairman of the Board of Councillors, Nippon Keidanren Adviser to the Board, Toshiba Corporation

There was a certain executive who made the words "self-help" his lifetime motto.

The executive was Mr. Koji Kobayashi, known as the savior of NEC Corporation for his success in restoring the company to prosperity, who passed away at the age of 89, about a decade ago. Born in an isolated village in the mountains, Mr. Kobayashi worked his way through school, determined to succeed in life. Today, he goes down in history not only as a great engineer but also as a dynamic businessman with an international perspective. "Jijo," or self-help, a book of reminiscences about Mr. Kobayashi published in his honor on the first anniversary of his death, extends over 850 pages. Within its pages, you can find his words: "Be aware that the "jijo," the spirit of self-help, is the driving force for the development of human beings and society."

Although social security is an essential measure to ensure people's safety and security, the spirit of self-help is necessary to provide the foundations. And yet, people tend to argue that, "If the degree of public assistance is cut even slightly, the quality of social security itself could deteriorate," even while recognizing the need to control ever-increasing public expenditure and to restore central and local government to a sound financial footing. However, isn't it too bad if we forget the spirit of self-help and come to rely solely on public assistance? To my way of thinking, self-help should come first, as the base; mutual aid should come next, and public assistance should come last.

Last October, Nippon Keidanren made the following suggestion on provision of medical services: "With limited resources from insurance premiums and tax revenues, the public medical insurance system needs to ground itself more in mutual aid and personal responsibility. The system has to be streamlined by cutting out excessive and unnecessary medical care, and to focus benefits on medical services for those having a difficult life or facing a life-threatening situation due to serious disease or injury." If we are to reduce total public expenditure on healthcare without lowering the quality of services, it is important to work out a plan for streamlining on one hand, while also compensating for expenditure reductions by cultivating a culture of self-help and mutual aid.

In future discussions of social security programs, it might be necessary to come up with proposals to increase the overall resources available for the social security by increasing the portions derived from self-help and mutual aid; to introduce competition into healthcare services; and to enhance the quality of services accordingly.

Besides implementing social security reform, first we have to make a serious effort to regain our spirit of self-help.