TOKYO, July 22 (UPI) -- It's been just over two years since Makiko Inui became a full-time mother, having left her job as an administrative assistant after having her son, Takuya.
"Sometimes, I miss my job ... but it would have been impossible, or at least improbable for me to continue working" and being a mother at the same time, said Inui, an attractive woman in her early 30s.
Yet at the same time, she has no intention of having another child.
"I love being a mother, but one is quite enough," she said.
Inui is far from alone in being a stay-at-home mother but at the same time, not wanting any more children. As Japan's birth rate continues to decline and the number of elderly people continues to rise, the dearth of babies is becoming something of a national crisis.
The Japanese government has recognized the problem stemming from the simple math equation: Japan has the longest-population in the world, and at the same time, the birth rate fell to 1.29 births per woman this year, one of the lowest in the world, which means that the burden on the working population will only increase in coming years.
So in 2000, the nation launched the so-called new angel plan, a five-year program to encourage women to have more babies. But the government found earlier this week that four years into the plan, not only are people having even less children than before, more women were found to be discontent with motherhood.
At the top of the list making parenthood a burden more than a joy for those parents with children under six years of age was the financial strain, the government found. But another key reason making it hard for women to enjoy being mothers was the fact that many found themselves isolated from society upon having children.
Granted, the government found that not all of their efforts over the past four years were wasted. Indeed, it found that more and more mothers were going back into the workforce, and many were finding it easier to balance work and family life. In fact, Japan has one of the most generous maternity and childcare policies among industrialized nations, with six months of childcare leave being mandatory for mothers, and healthcare for infants as well as expectant mothers effectively being free.
Many companies, particularly cosmetic manufacturers, department stores, and other industries that are heavily dependent on female clients as well as labor, have introduced generous maternity leave programs such as a year of paid leave. Some such as cosmetics company Shiseido even offer state-of-the-art daycare facilities on-site to encourage mothers to keep working. But companies find that given the long and often hazardous commutes by train, employees are unable to bring their children to the daycare facility in central Tokyo, so workers either end up leaving their jobs or using a daycare center close to home.
Of course, one reason why people are having fewer babies is the fact that the average age of getting married continues to rise, thus pushing up the average age of mothers having their first child.
But many women's magazines have argued that the allure of motherhood continues to wane, especially as society at large often expects Japanese women to be the primary caregiver as well as the housekeeper even if she works long hours away from home. Moreover, in a country where mass immigration is not allowed, hiring housecleaners or babysitters is almost unheard of, except for the extremely well-to-do. There is also a major stigma against hiring non-Japanese nationals to do tasks around the home.
One way many upper-middle-class families manage to balance motherhood and work is to integrate households, or quite simply, move back home with mom and dad.
"I would never consider doing this without my mother," exclaimed Emi Okada, a 32-year-old who is three months pregnant. Married for the past two years to a college sweetheart who works for a major construction company, Okada had since quit her office job as her husband was transferred out of Tokyo to Niigata, northern Japan.
But once she found out her husband would be transferred back to Tokyo and be near her family, Okada was willing to get pregnant. In fact, she has already moved back into her old room at home so that her mother could look after her until she delivers in January.
To many, Okada might seem too dependent on her parents, who are now in their 60s. But her reliance on family support is glamorized by Japanese women's magazines as the ideal way to have children and be urbane at the same time.
Celebrities such as television news anchor Junko Kubo, a 32-year-old with a baby, make a point of telling viewers that she and her marketing executive husband now live with her parents, so that the grandmother could look after the child while she is at work. Meanwhile, tabloids are full of photos of model Anna Umemiya and her mother going out shopping with their one-year-old daughter, as the three generations work together to create a family, make a living, and retain a sense of glamor.
"I think the ideal is to live at home, or at least very close to home, so you can have reliable, loving care for your child while you can go do things that you did before having a baby, " Inui said. "But not everyone can do that ... but if you can't, you think twice about starting a family," she added.
