The public cost of social security benefits is 31 trillion yen for the national government alone, and 42 trillion yen when the cost borne by local governments is included. In addition, the public cost of social security has been rising by one trillion yen each year. Japan allocates approximately eight times as much tax revenue to social security as it does defense, and as a result of this, it is impossible to assign enough national government funding for investment in education, in science and technology, for the children’s future, and so on. This “enemy within” is growing larger, and what is more important than anything else is to take it on squarely and begin implementing reform.