Last January, the mayor of Chiba, Toshihito Kumagai, raised eyebrows when he called for increasing the number of male staff in the city's public day care program. Tending to children is still considered a woman's job in Japan, which is why pay remains criminally low. Over the years, however, men have entered the field, and with the current labor crunch exacerbating the day care shortage in larger Japanese cities, Kumagai wants to encourage more of them to apply for jobs.