Newly appointed Environment Minister Shinjiro Koizumi, the third-youngest Cabinet minister in the postwar era, has been tapped by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe for his youth and popularity with the media and the public. The 38-year-old son of former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, the younger Koizumi ...
Japan to raise subsidies for firms where dads take paternity leave, sources say
The extra funding is intended to get companies to more than double the nationwide participation rate to 13 percent so more women can enter the workforce.
Few Japanese dads take advantage of paternity leave, survey finds
To the knowledge of more than 40 percent of Japanese workers, no fathers at their workplaces had taken any child care leave, according to a Jiji Press opinion survey in June. Among respondents with jobs, 31.5 percent, the largest share, said that paternal leave systems ...
Why paternity leave should be mandatory
Behind the declining child population and the lingering income gap between Japanese men and women is the fact that husbands and wives do not take part in raising their children together.
Japan offers most paid leave for fathers worldwide but few take it, UNICEF report finds
Japan leads the world in offering paid leave for fathers, but few take advantage of it, according to a new report by UNICEF based on legal entitlements from 2016. The report — called "Are the world's richest countries family-friendly?" — looks at the globe's most ...
Chemical firm hit for punishing worker who took paternity leave with transfer halfway across Japan
Chemical producer Kaneka Corp. faces allegations of harassment after an employee returned from paternity leave to find that he — and, one presumes, his family — was being transferred to a different branch in another part of the country. Condemnation on social media was swift, ...
LDP group mulls mandatory measures and law revisions to promote paternity leave
Ruling Liberal Democratic Party lawmakers formed a group Wednesday to promote, including through the revision of laws, the creation of work environments where men can more easily take parenting leave. The lawmakers will aim to make paternity leave mandatory in Japan and will compile an ...
LDP to set up caucus on making use of paternity leave mandatory throughout Japan
Like-minded members of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party plan to form a caucus to make the taking of paternity leave mandatory in Japan, informed sources said Saturday. The caucus, to be chaired by former education minister Hirokazu Matsuno, is set to hold its first meeting ...
Austrians push government for legally protected paternity leave for all fathers
Austria's leaders are coming under increasing pressure to grant statutory paternity leave to all fathers, despite fierce resistance in business circles. Austria has allowed fathers to take an unpaid month off following the birth of their children — the "Papamonat" ("daddy's month") — since 2017, ...
Japan's companies are beginning to rethink paternity leave policies
When it comes to child care in Japan, women typically take on the lion’s share of the workload. Men, by comparison, are generally too exhausted after work to help out in any way. According to the Asahi Shimbun, however, more men are looking to take ...
'Pluralistic ignorance': Why dads in Japan don't take paternity leave
While a majority of Japanese men approve of paternity leave, many new fathers are afraid to take off from work because they "wrongly believe other men think unfavorably of men taking paternity leave," a team of Japanese researchers said Wednesday. The take-up rate in Japan ...
Paternity leave trailblazer Miyazaki quits over affair
LDP lawmaker and paternity leave pioneer Kensuke Miyazaki quits his seat after admitting to an extramarital affair.
