The first supplementary budget, approved in late April, includes a global cash allocation of 100,000 yen, or about $930, for each resident. However, more than a month ago, only 35. 9% have earned the money.
Payments have been slow to reach citizens in densely populated areas. More than 700,000 citizens of Tokyo’s Ota district are eligible. So far, only 6% have won the checks.
Officials say the procedure has slowed down due to incomplete applications. They claim that a lot of bureaucracy is sent through the mail without enough required data or documents. The backlog was exacerbated by duplicate applications, with a few other people filing the bureaucracy online or by mail.
“There are 20 to 30 incomplete files,” said a senior government official. “We have to touch all those people, which slows down the whole process. “
The slow reaction extends beyond money distributions. Sakai Yuji, owner of a Japanese-style izakaya pub in Saitama Prefecture, applied for a small business grant on May 7 but has yet to get any money.
Sakai says his sales have dropped 70% to 80% due to the outbreak. At one point, he gave up and shut down. To compensate for the drop in business, he began promoting bento boxes to go. But even with that, he says, it’s been hard to pay rent.
That’s why it implemented the grant program, which awards up to 2 million yen, or about $1,860, to small and medium-sized businesses affected by the coronavirus. He said it would take about two weeks for his application to be reviewed and the payment processed. But once the deadline passed, instead of a check, he won a notice informing him that he had filled out his paperwork incorrectly. After making corrections and resubmitting his form, he called a number to make sure the challenge was resolved, but the line was busy. Since then, he has been unable to cope.
“I waited and waited, but to no avail,” Sakai says. I need to know why some people get cash temporarily and others don’t. Not everything is clear.
The Ministry of Economy says about 40% of grant programs are and that many applicants have not responded to follow-up emails asking for clarification. For its part, the ministry is creating a team committed to supporting citizens in the application process.
“Japan has been slow to go digital,” said Nishimura Yasutoshi, the minister in charge of the national coronavirus response, stressing the need for the government to digitize its administrative apparatus. “We want to allow other people to apply online. Create one- Stop at a store where other people can perform the procedure.