Why don't Japanese women have babies anymore?

A week ago, the Prime Minister of Japan, Fumio Kishida, sounded the alarm.

In question ?

The vertiginous drop in births in his country.

Last year (between January and October 2022) the Archipelago recorded 669,871 births, according to figures from the Ministry of Health.

Unheard of since the end of the 19th century.

By way of comparison, in a situation of demographic decline, France - with a population almost half the size - recorded 606,996 births over the same period.

If the economic crisis partly explains this drop in births, other elements must be taken into account, explains Karyn Nishimura-Poupée, a French journalist based in Japan for more than twenty years.

Interview.

Madame Figaro

The figures are alarming and it is indeed unheard of since the appearance of the first statistics on the subject in 1899. But it is not a surprise, it has been 40 years that Japan is in declining birth rate and the phenomenon maintains itself.

With one or two generations having fewer children, there are logically fewer women able to procreate 20 years later.

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How can this decline in the birth rate be explained?

Many factors are involved.

The economic context and the labor market do not really encourage having children.

More and more women are working but they still often occupy subordinate positions, which they have not chosen and part-time.

This is why they tend to choose a partner based on their income.

However, men occupy more precarious positions than before.

A few decades ago, they had a fixed job and could support the family on their own, but the economic crisis passed through that.

Finally, the inadequacy of childcare is also an obstacle.

Crèches have certainly become free and places have been created, but there is no alternative childcare.

Thereby,

Japanese society has become intolerant of children

Karyn Nishimura-Doll

Can the birth rate also be explained by the fact that women are making careers today?

Not really.

We even see that the more women have a career, the more children they have.

And on the contrary, we see that the more the traditional patterns are significant, the lower the fertility rate.

We must remember one thing: while Japanese women are aiming for higher and higher positions, the proportion of female executives remains low.

Women business leaders are still rare, and in the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate, there are only 10% of women, for example.

Not to mention that the future is scary.

Today's childbearing generation has heard about the crisis since birth.

So anticipating the financial cost of a child and the burden that parenthood represents, slows couples down.

So starting a family is no longer attractive?

Let's say that the Japanese now prefer to privilege their freedom.

As there are no babysitters and almost no night care, parents are blocked in their social life, whether it is going to the cinema, going to concerts, going to restaurants… Not to mention that mothers have no free time.

They are, for example, obliged to pick up their child at the crèche as soon as work is finished.

And there is no question of derogating from the rule, the crèches have a certificate from the employer indicating the working hours of the parents.

More and more women are therefore questioning this way of life.

And then the Japanese bathe in an environment where children are badly perceived, society has become intolerant of them.

In Japan, the vast majority of household chores still fall to mothers.

Getty Images

You underlined in 2020 the very great mental load which weighs on the Japanese.

Can it discourage some women from having children?

For sure.

Fortunately, there is undeniable progress on the side of the new generation of parents.

The pandemic has also changed the situation;

with telework, fathers are more at home and participate more in the life of the home.

Despite this, a strong pressure still weighs on the shoulders of women, who struggle to be the “perfect mother”.

You just have to see them get down to preparing the best "bentos" every morning (

) to their child... Beyond this mental burden, the sexism of Japanese society also overwhelms women.

Recently, one of the tenors of the ruling party, for example, said that the first cause of the birth rate was linked to the fact that women marry too late, implying that “they profit too much”.

Read alsoWorking as if you didn't have children, raising your children as if you didn't have a job: the perfect parent syndrome

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To revive the birth rate, measures have been taken in recent years.

Which ones?

They are essentially financial.

A birth bonus is, for example, paid to the couple, because childbirth is at their expense, of around 3,500 euros (the price of childbirth).

Genuine efforts have also been made to increase the number of crèche places.

Since 2019, approved establishments and nursery schools have also been free for children under 5 from the most modest families.

Other allowances may also be distributed depending on where one lives in Japan, such as education vouchers.

It is essential to reform the work of men who collect overtime.

Giving them more time will balance the parental burden

Karyn Nishimura-Doll

What avenues can the Japanese government explore today to truly change the situation?

We should give even more money and change the image of children, essentially presented as a constraint.

Of course, it is also essential to allow mothers to gain freedom.

Finally, it is essential to reform the work of men.

The latter collect overtime.

Giving them more time will make it possible to balance the parental burden and the women, too, will be able to pursue a career.

It is a very vast construction site.