title: Interplay of politics and law to promote health: improving economic equality and health: the case of postwar Japan.
abstract: The health situation in Japan after World War II was extremely poor. However, in less than 35 years the country's life expectancy was the highest in the world. Japan's continuing health gains are linked to policies established at the end of World War II by the Allied occupation force that established a democratic government. The Confucian principles that existed in Japan long before the occupation but were preempted during the war years were reestablished after the war, facilitating subsequent health improvements. Japan's good health status today is not primarily the result of individual health behaviors or the country's health care system; rather, it is the result of the continuing economic equality that is the legacy of dismantling the prewar hierarchy.
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Services, School of Public Health and Community Medicine, Box 357660, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195-7660, USA. sabez@u.washington.edu
authors.forename: Stephen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bezruchka
authors.forename: Tsukasa
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Namekata
authors.forename: Maria Gilson
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: Sistrom
mesh_terms: D006293:Health Promotion / Q000266:history / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D054624:Health Status Disparities; D049673:History, 20th Century; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan; D008017:Life Expectancy; D011057:Politics; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors