The right to a minimum standard of living.

The effort to turn Japan into a welfare state in the postwar era can be traced back to Article 25 of the Constitution, which guarantees that "all people shall have the right to maintain the minimum standards of wholesome and cultured living." The right to a minimum standard of living had not been included in the Japanese government's original draft of the Constitution, which was based on a draft from General Headquarters of the Allied Powers. It was added later at the insistence of the Japan Socialist Party, and included in the Constitution over the objections of those who believed that such a right was not needed because the document already protected the pursuit of …