An anonymous Japanese blogger's tirade about failing to secure a day care place for her child has spurred Prime Minister Shinzo Abe into action.
In a Feb. 15 blog post titled "I couldn't get day care — die Japan!!!" a person claiming to be a mother said she was preparing to quit her job as she had nowhere to leave her child. "So what am I supposed to do now?" she wrote, using unusually coarse language in the post shared about 50,000 times on social media. "Give me a damn break Japan."
After initially brushing off the post, Abe has promised remedies. On Friday, he pledged to add detailed measures in legislation this spring to reduce waiting lists for day care — the figure climbed to 23,167 last April. The same day, the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, which he heads, set up a task force to propose fixes, and the head of Komeito, his coalition partner, suggested using extra budget to this end.
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