4 Family Policy Developments in Japan : Fertility Decline and Economic Support(Declining Birthrate: Problems for Family and Social Policy)

This paper will focus on the recent development of Japanese family policies in a comparative perspective. The rapid fertility decline has led to new policy initiatives for families and children. Childcare services have expanded since the 1990s, while the reconciliation of work and family life has been addressed by these new policies. On the other hand, direct economic support of families with children has not improved and the level of support is still inadequate. A comparative analysis of the policy package including cash benefits, tax allowances, childcare services and other subsidies, which support a family with the costs of rearing children, suggests that Japanese packages were less generous than most other industrialized countries in 2001. It is also important to note that this situation has remained unchanged during the last five years, despite the importance of supporting families that has been repeatedly emphasized in domestic politics. This is in sharp contrast with policy developments in Britain, where the support packages since 1997 under the Labour government have been improving in order to tackle child poverty. The new initiatives of British family policies include the introduction of tax benefits and increasing childcare cost tax deductions. There are some arguments for increasing the level of cash benefits to halt the fertility decline in Japan. In fact, child-related tax benefits are limited and less generous in terms of amount and provisions compared with other countries, and it is important to extend benefits and reduce the costs of rearing children. However, economic support of families should not be considered in the context of demographic policy. Japanese family policies need to pay more attention to poverty among children, particularly the issue of single-parent families, which is also spreading as a result of the rising divorce rate. As the hardships of single-mother families can become more evident in a country with a social system based on a male-breadwinner family model, this will be a major issue for Japanese social policy. The main aim of future family policies should be supporting children, not increasing their number. It is necessary for us to respond to the wide range of issues brought by family changes, which are well beyond the scope of the fertility crisis.