Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida pledges to implement the necessary measures to allow 85 percent of male workers who have a child to take paternity leave by fiscal 2030 to tackle the falling birthrate.
Geopolitical and economic concerns are dominating headlines ahead of the upcoming House of Councillors election, putting the critical issue of Japan s stubbornly low birthrate on the backburner at a time when it needs to be front of mind for the government.
Japan is considering requiring those who want a job in child care or education to submit proof that they are not convicted sex offenders, government officials say, as parents have been calling for such a system amid growing cases of children being sexually abused by teachers and babysitters.
A record 2,170 cases of child abuse were investigated last year in Japan, up 1.7 percent from the previous year, as the coronavirus pandemic continued to reduce opportunities for welfare workers to intervene, a police report shows.
More than half of single-parent households in Japan struggle financially while 30 percent have experienced being unable to afford food, results of the first government survey on child poverty shows.