The proportion of male corporate workers in Japan who had recently become fathers and taken child care leave as of Oct. 1 2023 stood at a record high of 30%, following new government regulations requiring businesses to confirm whether employees intend to take leave, according to government report released Wednesday.

The health ministry also linked the significant rise in paternity leave uptake to government efforts to raise awareness about the paternity leave system among businesses. Both initiatives launched in the spring of 2022.

The record represents a 13 percentage point increase from the previous year. The findings were based on survey responses from 3,495 companies with five or more employees.

Paternity leave uptake rates varied by industry, with the highest rates in personal services and amusement services at 55.3%, followed by finance and insurance at 43.8%, and scientific research and professional and technical services at 42.8%.

In contrast, the lowest uptake was seen in real estate and goods rental services at 16.9%. The wholesale and retail trade industry came in at 20.1%, while for accommodations and the food and beverage sector the figure stood at 21.1%.

Meanwhile, the uptake rate for maternity leave was 84.1%, remaining stable in comparison to recent years.

A middle school teacher and father of two in his 30s, who asked to only be referred to by his surname Yamazaki over concerns about being judged at work for having taken parental leave at a previous workplace, said that he had felt pressure at work over his decision to take eight months off last summer.

“I was called in once and was questioned about whether I really understood the implications of taking parental leave,” he said of his previous school.

“There were quite a few senior employees, and for someone like me, who was in my thirties and what seemed like the peak of my career, it wasn’t (seen as) ideal for someone like me to take time off,” he said, noting that there were moments when even managers seemed unsure about how to handle his decision to take time off.

Nonetheless, Yamazaki and his wife believe that him taking paternity leave after the birth of his second child — he did not for his first — was the best choice, as he could witness his children's growth and understand his wife's struggles better.

"I wouldn't have grasped that if I had just focused on work,” he said. “Since I was involved in household chores, it allowed us to share a common understanding as a couple and strengthened our relationship.”

At a time when businesses are confronting a severe labor shortage, parental leave has become a crucial factor for students when selecting a company.

A separate survey of students between the ages of 18 and 25 on attitudes toward parental leave revealed that 84% of male respondents expressed a desire to take paternity leave, while 63% prioritized looking up information about companies' paternity leave policies when searching for jobs.

In that survey, conducted in late June, about 30% of men said they wished to take at least six months of paternity leave, and around 57% did not want to work for companies lacking a track record of offering parental leave. In addition, 77.9% of all respondents said they were trying to find a good work-life balance, highlighting a trend among young people of making that a priority.

Additionally, the desire to "enthusiastically engage in both work and parenting" was nearly equal between men and women.

Awareness of the parental leave system among young people was notably high, with 92.4% stating they were "aware of it" and 87.7% expressing an "intent to take leave." Additionally, 88.6% indicated a desire for their partner to take parental leave.