【PovertyisnotfirstthingthatcomestomindwhenyouthinkofJapan．Afteralltherearenochildrenbeggingonthestreetsinmajorcitieshere．YoudonotoftenseeJapanesecitizenspubliclylettingouttheircomplaintsove】
PovertyisnotfirstthingthatcomestomindwhenyouthinkofJapan．Afterallthereareno
childrenbeggingonthestreetsinmajorcitieshere．YoudonotoftenseeJapanesecitizenspubliclylettingouttheircomplaintsoverthecountry’seconomicdecline．ButseniorgovernmentresearcherAyaAbesaysJapanhasthefourthhighestrateofchildpovertyamongdevelopedcountries．
Shesayssheseesthatpovertyinschoolswherestudentsadmittoonlybathingoncea
week．Somecannotaffordtobuypencilsforclass．
“Theymaynotbeonthestreetsbeggingortheymaynotbeturningintocriminalsbutit’s
there．It’sjustthatwehavetoopenoureyesandsee”Abesaid．
Abeowestheincreaseinchildpovertytothecountry’schangingdemographics（人口统计）
strugglingeconomyandhighsocialsecuritypremiums（保险费）．Shesaysfewerpeopleliveinthree-generationhouseholdswheretheparentsandgrandparentswork．Thenumberofsinglemothershasincreased．Thesalaryforyoungfathershasdeclinedwiththeeconomicdownturn．Socialsecuritypremiumshaveincreasedinthelast20yearsputtingfamiliesontheedgeofpoverty．
AbesaysstudiesconductedbytheOrganizationforEconomicCooperationandDevelopment
（OECD）pointtorisingpovertyinJapanbeforetheglobaleconomiccrisesin2008．ButtheJapanesegovernmentandthepublicrefusedtoacknowledgeituntilthenpartlybecauseoftheshameassociatedwithpoverty．
“ItwasveryunpopularforJapanesemediatosayanythingaboutJapanesepoverty”said
Abe．“EventhoughOECDJapanannounceditinJapaneseJapanesemediadidn’tmakeitintothearticles．”
AbesaysnewPrimeMinisterYukioHatoyamahastakenoneimportantsteptohelpalleviate
（缓解）theproblem．NextyearhisDemocraticPartyofJapanplanstodoublemonthlychildcareallowancesgiventofamilies．
ButAbewantsthegovernmenttoexpanditsfinancialhelpevenmore．Shewantsittosimplify
theprocesstoapplyforpublicassistanceandprovideeducationalgrantsforstudentsstrugglingtopayfortuitionathighschoolsandcolleges．Thecountrynowonlyoffersloans．
Abealsosaysthegovernmentmustactquicklybecau