Tokyo Implements 4-Day Workweek To Encourage Having More Children Amidst Declining Birth Rates

In January 2023, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida warned that the country “is at a critical point with regard to whether it can maintain its social functions.” He further vowed to “create a children-first economy and society” and facilitate “the most effective investment for the future.” “We will consider how society as a whole can stably support children while making various efforts,” he added.

At the same time Japan has a lot of elderly people to take care of and who are not in the workforce. In a disturbing trend, the country is increasingly killing and assisted-suicides of its elderly population labeled as “caregiver fatigue.”

Governor Yuriko Koike announced plans last week for a flexible 4-day workweek that will start beginning next Spring in 2025, part of a broader plan by the Governor called “Women in Action.”

“We’ll keep reviewing our work styles flexibly so that nobody has to give up their careers due to life events such as childbirth and child care,” Koike explained at the beginning of the fourth regular session of the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly in 2024.

Now is the time for Tokyo to take the initiative to protect and enhance the lives, livelihoods and economy of our people during these challenging times for the nation.

She added

Western media has been quick to say that Tokyo’s implementation of a 4-day workweek is designed to address the country’s declining birth rates.

However, Japanese media did not frame it that way, and made it sound as if it was designed to give women more flexibility in the workplace, not just for the sole purpose of childbearing.

“Empowering women, a goal that has lagged far behind the rest of the world, has been a long-standing issue in our country,” Koike said, ‘adding that overcoming this situation is key to creating a future where both men and women can thrive,’ The Japan Times reported.

‘Koike also said they will continue to advance initiatives to address shortages in nursery school vacancies and support egg freezing,’ the paper added.

The outlet noted some of the finer details of the work-life balance shift:

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To help employees balance child care and work, the government plans to introduce a new “child care partial leave” system, which allows workers to reduce their working hours by up to two hours a day.

Metropolitan government employees currently use a flextime system to adjust their working hours, allowing them to add one extra day off every four weeks. This system will be revised to allow one extra day off per week, enabling them to work four days a week and take the remaining three days off.

Parliament passed revisions in May requiring companies to offer flexible work options for employees with young children, effective next April. The revised laws would allow working from home, shorter working hours, and oblige companies with over 300 employees to disclose data on paternity leave.

In October, Miyagi Prefecture announced plans to extend its four-day workweek option to all prefectural employees by fiscal 2026, becoming the first in the Tohoku region to do so. The policy, currently limited to those with child care and caregiving duties, allows employees to enjoy a three-day weekend, if their supervisor approves.

Other areas are adopting similar initiatives. Ibaraki Prefecture introduced a selective four-day workweek in April for most employees, excluding teachers and shift workers, to support child care, caregiving and re-skilling. Chiba Prefecture expanded its four-day workweek policy in June, while the city of Kuji in Iwate Prefecture began a four-day workweek trial in May, planning full adoption in 2025 to address a sharp decline in job applicants.

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AUTHOR COMMENTARY

The way western media decidedly framed this news I find to be interesting. Western media wants to pin this move as a way to increase birthrates, and I suppose it might help a little, but Japanese media and the Governor made it sound like it was more about female empowerment and women’s rights than anything else.

It should also be noted that the World Economic Forum (WEF) is big proponents of the 4-day work week.

While it is true that the modern rat-race and slave-wage society is truly overbearing and soul-sucking, the reason the WEF and other globalist groups promote this concept is because they also are heavily in favor and are pushing the world to adopt AI and robotics to takeover the bulk of and eventually all of the workload, if they get their wish. So, having spent the last number of decades promoting this rat-race corporate drone society that only enriched corporations and a small group of people, and everyone is exhausted and broke, now the globalist cronies and puppet string manipulators want people to start accepting working significantly less; so then ‘they’ can swoop in with an even greater nanny state to control and supply their whims.

Proverbs 12:24 The hand of the diligent shall bear rule: but the slothful shall be under tribute.

Regardless, Japan is in a mess. They are hardly producing enough children and have an incredibly large elderly population, as their economy is in rapid decline, so you are going to see major problems and a population bust before too long over there, including here in the West…

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[7] Who goeth a warfare any time at his own charges? who planteth a vineyard, and eateth not of the fruit thereof? or who feedeth a flock, and eateth not of the milk of the flock? [8] Say I these things as a man? or saith not the law the same also? [9] For it is written in the law of Moses, Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treadeth out the corn. Doth God take care for oxen? [10] Or saith he it altogether for our sakes? For our sakes, no doubt, this is written: that he that ploweth should plow in hope; and that he that thresheth in hope should be partaker of his hope. (1 Corinthians 9:7-10).

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