To a lot of working women in Japan, having children is still an obstacle to climbing the career ladder, or even simply returning to the workplace.

In a survey of about 1,000 women released in March by the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry and carried out between 2002 and 2008, 52.9 percent of the pollees quit their jobs after having their first child. Long work hours or lack of support from husbands or parents were among the main reasons they gave for quitting.

But some companies and municipal governments are trying to improve the situation for working parents to encourage experienced and skilled women to continue working.