Tag - parenthood

 
 

PARENTHOOD

The ¥100,000 financial aid comes hand-in-hand with consultation support that encourages expecting mothers to attend meetings in their municipalities throughout their pregnancy where they can ask for advice and information on childbirth.
JAPAN / Society
Nov 9, 2023
Japan's cash handouts for pregnant women to be made permanent in 2025
The plan entails handing out a total of ¥100,000 to all residents of Japan who are pregnant.
Seiko Noda (right), head of a suprapartisan group of lawmakers discussing assisted reproductive technology, addresses the group's general meeting held in the Diet building on Tuesday.
JAPAN
Nov 8, 2023
Bill on sperm and egg donors seeks disclosure of some information
The draft seeks to allow information that is not personally identifiable, such as height, blood type and age, to be disclosed without donor's consent
"The Ones Left Behind" documents the successes and struggles of single mothers in Japan.
PODCAST / deep dive
Nov 2, 2023
Why single mothers in Japan have been left behind
Filmmaker Rionne McAvoy joins us to discuss the hidden poverty present in one of the world’s richest nations.
A community health worker speaks during a meeting with pregnant teenagers, teen mothers and their partners, in Navotas, Metro Manila, in 2016.
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Oct 28, 2023
Can new law help tackle Philippines' teen pregnancy emergency?
The costs of teen pregnancies in the country are high, with around 30% of the population now under 15 years old.
Vagaries in Japanese law mean single mothers are sometimes left without financial support from their former partners.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Oct 23, 2023
Documentary shines a spotlight on Japan’s single mothers
"The Ones Left Behind" explores the successes and struggles of single mothers in modern Japan.
Ayuko Kato, minister in charge of child policies, talks to children in Kawasaki, Kanagawa Prefecture, on Sunday.
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 17, 2023
Japan resumes babysitter discount coupon program amid high demand
The babysitter coupon system was implemented in 2016 as part of the government’s efforts to offer financial aid to working families with children.
Enza Guzzo holds the letter of dismissal in Arese, Italy, on Oct. 11. Guzzo's former employer fired her in 2011 after she had a second daughter. She later won a lawsuit against them.
WORLD / Society
Oct 16, 2023
Job or baby? Italian women's struggle to have both holds back growth.
Over half of Italian women said they found it impossible to combine work and childcare.
A bill would have banned the act of letting children play in a park or travel to school on their own, as well as parents going out and leaving their high school-age children behind to take care of younger siblings.
JAPAN / Society
Oct 10, 2023
Saitama to withdraw proposed ban on leaving children unattended
The bill had been criticized by many parents in the prefecture and beyond as being too restrictive and impossible to follow.
Ayuko Kato, minister in charge of child policies, speaks to reporters in Tokyo on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 4, 2023
Children's agency chief Ayuko Kato vows to tackle falling birthrate
One of the aims of the agency is to help implement the Children's Future Strategy, a plan that was announced as a way to reverse the declining birthrate.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida speaks at a government panel meeting on measures to tackle Japan's declining birthrate on Monday.
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 3, 2023
Debate begins on funds to tackle Japan's low birthrate
The prime minister has instructed relevant ministers to draw up a road map for securing necessary funds by reducing social security spending.
Demonstrators during a Women's Day march in Tokyo on March 8
JAPAN / Science & Health
Sep 28, 2023
Consent issue casts shadow on safe abortion in Japan
The law stipulates that abortion must be carried out in the early stages of pregnancy with the consent of one's spouse.
The baby hatch at Jikei Hospital in the city of Kumamoto
JAPAN / Society
Sep 28, 2023
Tokyo hospital hopes to launch baby hatch next year
San-ikukai Hospital is preparing to set up a baby hatch next spring or later, along with a system to allow women to give births confidentially.
On average, women spend more time on housework than men.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 18, 2023
It’s time for women to quit housework (again)
Women of the world unite in dedicating more time to yourselves and less to housework. Men might learn something along the way, too.
Mia Lee Sorensen with her Danish mother, Lilian Hansen, 72, and father, Bent Hansen, 74, on the coast of Korsor, Denmark, on July 13. South Korean adoptees have been returning to the country to hold the government accountable for what they call a corrupt and predatory adoption system.
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Sep 18, 2023
World’s largest ‘baby exporter’ confronts its painful past
South Korean adoptees have been returning to the country to hold the government accountable for what they call a corrupt adoption system.
The trend of people getting married later could be causing a vicious cycle of fewer children begetting fewer children, says Takuya Hoshino, senior economist at Dai-ichi Life Research Institute.
JAPAN / Society
Aug 30, 2023
Third of Japan's 18-year-old women may never have children: study
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has promised to tackle the country's population crisis with "unprecedented" measures.
Members of the family law subcommittee of the Justice Ministry's Legislative Council discuss joint parental custody after divorce at the Justice Ministry on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Society
Aug 30, 2023
Ministry panel proposes introducing joint custody after divorce
The proposal comes amid increased attention on bitter custodial battles between divorced parents.
If you have a specific birth plan in mind, like giving birth at home, it's important to make sure the clinic you use offers that option.
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Aug 14, 2023
Giving birth in Japan? Here’s what you need to know.
Giving birth can be overwhelming — even more so if you don’t understand the local language or know the steps you need to take.
Prachi Gupta (left) after the birth of her first child in 2018
JAPAN / Society / FOCUS
Aug 14, 2023
For foreign expecting mothers in Japan, a struggle over maternity norms
Different expectations over things like natural births and weight gain can cause anxieties for non-Japanese.
Seiko Noda
JAPAN / Politics
Aug 13, 2023
Legislation on assisted reproductive technology delayed in Japan
Currently in Japan, the right of children born through fertility treatment to know their biological parents is not guaranteed
As many as half of women with postpartum depression go undiagnosed.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 9, 2023
New postpartum depression pill is a vital breakthrough
Pharma companies seem to be finally listening to the female half of the population.

Longform

Sociologist Gracia Liu-Farrer argues that even though immigration doesn't figure into Japan's autobiography, it is more of a self-perception than a reality.
In search of the ‘Japanese dream’