Language | NEWS IN NIHONGO Jul 30, 2018
Sixty percent of parents and children in Japan use their smartphones or cellphones when they are together for family time, the highest percentage in a comparison with the U.S., South Korea and China.
NEWSWORTHY
National Mar 29, 2018
Japan modernizing workplace conditions to lure new mothers back
by Noriko Inoue
With Japan's demographic challenges causing a workforce crunch that is proving difficult for companies to overcome, many are now offering flexible conditions to allow new mothers to return to full-time careers while maintaining their work-family balance. More women, afraid their careers will stagnate while they ...
National Mar 29, 2018
Marriage quest finds some Japanese men looking to share household duties with female partners
by Magdalena Osumi
Tokyoite Kiyoshi is 38 years old and is still waiting for luck in love. But when he finds his future life partner, he says he will be willing to handle family duties in the belief that men's and women's roles at home are equal. "I ...
Commentary / Japan Oct 31, 2017
by Toko Shirakawa
To encourage more young people to start families, Japan must create an environment in which mothers can work and men do more to help out around the home.
National / Social Issues May 9, 2017
Grieving parents on a mission to teach students about tragic results of overwork
Parents of young workers who died or killed themselves due to overwork have been traveling across Japan to speak about these tragic deaths to students. The encounters are sponsored by the government, which is seeking to tackle the widespread problem of excessive working hours. "My son ...
Business Apr 6, 2017
Amid labor crunch, firms woo graduates' parents to outdo rivals
As job openings outnumber job-seekers in Japan, graduates looking for employment have an upper hand. As a result, more firms are trying to woo their parents through seminars and home visits to get ahead of rivals. While students are keen to respect their parents' opinions ...
National Mar 21, 2017
More men juggle work commitments with caring for elderly parents
by Sawako Obara
While women have long been the main caregivers for elderly parents in Japan, the country's rapidly aging population, coupled with the prevalence of smaller families in recent generations, has resulted in more men taking on the responsibility. Among them are a growing number of men ...
Asia Pacific / Social Issues May 23, 2016
New Philippines leader Duterte plans to strongly push family planning law, aide says
In a move that could add to simmering tensions with the Catholic church, Philippine President-elect Rodrigo Duterte will aggressively implement the country's family planning law to push his economic growth agenda, one of his aides said Monday. Congress passed a law in December 2012, despite ...
Business / Tech May 10, 2016
A father's grief over the loss of his daughter has spawned a new industry: figurines of deceased relatives made with 3-D printing. The work of an Osaka-based printing company, the models are already proving popular and are helping families recover from bereavement. A plaster figure of ...
National / Social Issues May 6, 2016
250,000 Japanese engaged in 'double care' of children, adult family members: survey
by Tomoko Otake
An estimated 253,000 people are currently shouldering the double burden of raising children while also caring for sick or elderly family members, a recent survey by the Cabinet Office has found. By gender, women were found to be much more likely to undertake what in ...
National Dec 18, 2015
Japan still carries child abduction 'black hole' stigma despite signing to Hague Convention: expert
by William Hollingworth
A security expert who specializes in the safe recovery of children abducted in cross-border custody disputes is skeptical about whether Japan will ever shake its reputation as the "black hole of international parental child abduction." Adam Whittington heads a team of former special forces and ...