Every time I open a newspaper or click on the Internet, yet another article appears bemoaning the same tired trend in Japanese society: the falling birthrate. Citing everything from sexless marriages to inequality in the workplace for women, these articles all skirt the real problem — Japanese women themselves.

Never have I met such a wide variety of overqualified housewives. The waste confounds my slight mathematical ability: How much money thoughtlessly wasted through the years on cram schools and education, on overseas travel, violin lessons? It's time Japanese society eliminated this harmful contradiction, since Japanese women must not be prepared for anything except spousal care and child-rearing. A new focus on marital arts should replace all other education for women in Japan, starting from mid-elementary level, lest girls become susceptible to the dangerous notion that they can someday have a life outside the home.

Take Kato-san. Her life before marriage revolved around a high-level position in corporate banking. Although useful now when dividing the bill after a mommas' karaoke all-nighter (Kato calculates each person's share down to the last decimal, in seconds, even after downing 14 plum cocktails) and perhaps giving her a slight advantage over other housewives when managing the household accounts, any outside observer would conclude she is now overqualified in her daily life.