Why don’t Japanese women have children anymore?

A week ago, the Prime Minister of Japan, Fumio Kishida, raised the alarm. Under the question mark? The dizzying decline in births in his country. Last year (between January and October 2022), there were 669,871 births in the Archipelago, according to the Ministry of Health. Unheard of since the end of the 19th century. By comparison, France, in a situation of demographic decline, with almost half the population, recorded 606,996 births during the same period. If the economic crisis partly explains this decline in birth rates, other elements must be taken into account, explains Karin Nishimura-Puppe, a French journalist who has lived in Japan for more than twenty years. Interview:

Madame Figaro.- Prime Minister Fumio Kishida announced last week that the Archipelago was“Society on the edge of inability to continue”.Is the situation really so dire?
Karin Nishimura-doll. The numbers are alarming, and it really is unheard of since the first statistics on the matter appeared in 1899. But it’s not surprising, Japan has had a declining birthrate for 40 years, and the phenomenon persists. Since a generation or two has fewer children, logically fewer women can reproduce after 20 years.

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How can this decline in the birth rate be explained?
Many factors are involved. The economic context and the labor market do not really encourage having children. More and more women are working, but they still often occupy menial positions that they did not choose and are not full-time. That is why they tend to choose a partner based on their income. However, men occupy more precarious positions than before. A few decades ago, they had a fixed job and could support their family on their own, but the economic crisis passed. Finally, inadequacy of childcare is also a barrier. Kindergartens have certainly become free, places have been created, but there is no alternative kindergarten. So, since it is incomprehensible to a Japanese person to have his child looked after by an unknown person, there are no nannies in the Archipelago.

Japanese society has become intolerant of children

Karin Nishimura-doll

Can the birth rate also be explained by the fact that today women have careers?
Not really. We even see that the more women have careers, the more children they have. Conversely, we see that the more traditional patterns are, the lower the fertility rate. We must remember one thing. while Japanese women aspire to more and more senior positions, the proportion of female executives remains low. Female business leaders are still rare, with only 10% of the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate, for example, women. Not to mention that the future is scary. Today’s birthing generation has heard about the crisis since birth. Thus, anticipating the financial costs of a child and the burden that parenthood represents slows couples down.

So is starting a family no longer attractive?
Let’s say that the Japanese now prefer to privilege their freedom. Since there are no babysitters and almost no night care, parents are blocked from their social life, be it the cinema, concerts, restaurants… Not to mention that mothers have no free time. For example, they are obliged to pick up the child from the kindergarten as soon as they finish work. And there is no question of deviating from the rule, kindergartens have a certificate from the employer stating the working hours of the parents. Therefore, more and more women are questioning this lifestyle. And then the Japanese bathe in an environment where children are perceived badly, the society has become intolerant towards them. Some restaurants, for example, have “no children under 12” posted on their front door, and when you want to build a kindergarten, the neighborhood gets upset…

You emphasized the very big mental burden that is weighing on Japanese people in 2020. Could it prevent some women from having children?
Of course. Fortunately, there is undeniable progress on the part of the new generation of parents. The epidemic has also changed the situation. with telecommuting, fathers are home more and participate more in home life. Despite this, there is still a lot of pressure on the shoulders of women who struggle to be the “perfect mother”. You just have to see them go to work every morning making the best bentos (lunchbox in anticipation of lunch because there are no cafeterias, editor’s note) their child… Beyond this mental burden, the sexism of Japanese society affects women as well. One of the tenors of the ruling party recently, for example, said that the number one cause of births is related to the fact that women marry too late, implying that they “win too much”.

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In recent years, measures have been taken to increase the birth rate. Which one?
They are essentially financial. The birth bonus, for example, is given to the couple because the birth is their responsibility, about 3,500 euros (the price of the birth). Real efforts have also been made to increase the number of kindergartens. Institutions and kindergartens approved since 2019 are also free for children up to 5 years old from the most modest families. Other benefits may also be distributed depending on where one lives in Japan, such as education vouchers.

It is important to reform the work of men who collect overtime. Giving them more time will balance the parenting burden

Karin Nishimura-doll

What ways can the Japanese government seek to truly change the situation today?
We need to give even more money and change the image of children, which is essentially presented as restraint. Of course, it’s also important to allow mothers to gain freedom. Finally, men’s work needs to be reformed. The latter collect an additional fee. Giving them more time will make it possible to balance the burden of parenthood, and women will also be able to pursue a career. It is a very large construction site.