A happy worker makes a happy home – Labor Welfare Association 1932
Beginning in the 1920s, the Imperial Japanese government enacted a series of welfare programs, based mainly on European models, to provide medical care and financial support.
After the onset of the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1938, the Ministry of Health and Welfare was created with special emphasis on children and younger citizens in response to needs for a physically and mentally fit population capable of successful warfare.
During the Pacific War the Imperial Japanese government expanded health care to the entire nation and introduced various pension plans. Unfortunately, Japanese wartime welfare work neglected individuals such as the elderly, mentally-ill and disabled who did not constitute valuable human resources for military-industrial mobilization.