The outline of the “unprecedented” policies to reverse Japan’s declining birthdate were announced on March 31, but many are shaking or scratching their head. Some of the suggested measures are: Increase of lump-sum payment to offset the cost of...
Have you seen photos of kyara-ben (short for “Character Bento”)? They are lunchboxes packed with homemade food decorated to look like animals and anime characters. When I moved to Japan with my 3-year-old and saw these pieces of art, I was impressed...
How would you describe an excellent work environment for everyone? You may come up with many areas for improvement by comparing the ideal with reality. Among many issues, the gender pay gap remains a problem many countries must address. In May, the...
While the gender gap in education is closing year by year in developed countries, there is still a significant gender gap in education in sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, and parts of South America. This disparity is caused by poverty, child...
The coronavirus pandemic has highlighted and worsened existing inequalities. People with lower incomes and in less stable jobs are especially vulnerable. In Japan, many of these kinds of jobs are taken up by women. Japan’s emphasis on...
Japan is generally thought of as a country with a conservative culture and traditional gender role expectations. Men are still generally expected to be breadwinners working long hours and women are expected to stay at home and raise children. There...
Japan’s former Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori caused controversy with his remarks about women earlier this year. He was serving as the head of the Tokyo Olympics committee when he made comments about how “talkative” and “competitive” he thinks women...
Japan came in 121st in a recent global gender equality ranking conducted by the World Economic Forum. This means Japan ranked even worse than it did previously and is currently the lowest among the Group of Seven countries. What does this tell us...
Like most countries, Japan is doing its best to promote SDGs throughout the country. However, there is a lot of work before the sustainable goals are met. These are some of the issues that needs to be addressed in Japan. Japan’s plastic...
Japan has one of the largest workforce gender gaps in the developed world. This is despite what women workers can offer. More women aged 25-34 in Japan are college educated than men (roughly 67% compared to 56%), yet women in higher positions are...