1. Formation process:
During the interwar period (1920s and 1930s) in Japan, the general public had poor access to medical care due to high medical costs.
However, in order to protect college students, the future white-collar elite, the government and universities have established medical benefits such as free treatment/low-cost prescriptions/latest X-ray diagnosis centered on student clinics.
2. How it works:
In the age of meritocracy, health is considered a useful asset for career advancement and a part of one’s achievement status.
For this reason, the Tokyo Military University Student Clinic utilizes the medical faculty and the latest equipment to provide a higher level of medical services than poverty relief facilities. It functions as a management organization that manages the health of students and supports an elite training path leading to studies, graduation, and employment.
3. Paradoxical meaning:
Contrary to the justification of ‘welfare to help poor students’, welfare resources are distributed preferentially to resource-rich upper-class intellectuals rather than the socially underprivileged, thereby reproducing the privileges and disparities of the elite.
This presents the same paradox of increasing competition by providing equipment and tracks only to the front runners.
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