Mo' kids? 'many don't have time to find partners'

[Taro Toporific]

Birthrate battle taking shape
IHT/Asahi: August 23,2003
New guidelines take aim at the all-work, no child-care lifestyle of men in this country. ....to help brake the slide in the nation's birthrate, such as encouraging overworked male staff to share more child-raising duties...
...head of welfare policy division at Rengo (Japanese Trade Union Confederation).
``We should be reviewing the work-centered lifestyle of all workers, not just those trying to balance work and raising children,'' she commented.
``The work lives of single people should also be reconsidered. As things stand, many don't have time to find partners.''

[Snapped]

I wouldn't have kids in this country. It's too expensive to raise them. So I don't blame those Japanese people who choose only to have one kid or none at all.

[Gestalt]

[ramchop]

[Taro Toporific]

With the birthrate declining shouldn't it be getting easier to find a place, or are they shutting childcare centres down?

...or is it that a higher proportion of chldren these days are in daycare because both parents have to work?

Yep, there's a higher proportion of working parents fueling the need. ALSO, until recently govn't funded daycare only started at age 4.5 years. When they started lowering the childcare age limits, the govn't didn't increase the number/size of daycare centers, which made the waiting lists even worse.