OSAKA -- Rieko Ueda started her own business a year ago and expects it to turn a profit early next year, and yet part of her wishes it will someday go bankrupt.

Failure of the growing business -- sales are increasing every month and are expected to top 25 million yen this year -- would mean that troubled working mothers do not need Ueda's services.

It would mean the social environment has improved or the government has made it possible for mothers to continue working without worries.