Abe cabinet minister suggests three generations of family living together will raise the falling birthrate
One of the hot topics on Girls Channel today was the news that Ishii Keiichi, the new Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport had announced plans to encourage three generations of Japanese families to live under the same roof as a means of raising the birthrate.
We’re not sure how much Minister Ishii really understands about reproduction, but it’s probably safe to say that he doesn’t seem to realise that living with your parents might not be very conducive to it.
The Girls Channel girls are not massive fans of the idea either, with many pointing out that before suggesting harebrained schemes like this, the government might want to actually do something practical to help women bring up children, like, say, reasonable childcare provisions.
From Housenews.jp:
Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Promotes 3 Generations Of A Family Living Together Or Near Each Other
Accompanying the inauguration of the 3rd Abe Administration on October 7, Komeito Member Ishii Keiichi began his office as the Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport. That evening, at a press conference held at the Ministry, Ishii told journalists: “I want to deal with things through demonstrating the practical problem-solving ability and the collective strength that the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport already has”. Ishii raised as specific themes the speed with which the Tohoku region had recovered following the Tohoku Earthquake, keeping citizens safe and reassured through policies aimed at preventing and reducing the impact of disasters, policies regarding the deterioration of infrastructure, the measured maintenance of social capital and the promotion of Japan as a tourist destination. Through these examples Ishii hinted at the realization of a rich life for Japanese citizens, and the rejuvenation of Japan’s regional areas. As his housing policy, Ishii stated his intention to grapple with the review and implementation of policies that encourage three generations of a family either living together or close to one another as a means of raising the birth rate. This was apparently on the suggestion of Prime Minister Abe Shinzo.
Comments from Girls Channel:
匿名:
No way I’d live with them.
匿名:
Mwahahahaha.
匿名:
Umm, shouldn’t comprehensive childcare come first so that we can relax and be able to work??
匿名:
Isn’t it better to increase the number of nurseries and creches?
匿名:
Looks like the number of divorces will rise because people were living with their parents…
匿名:
Hah, now even the government is suggesting we live together.
匿名:
Enhance employment opportunities first!
匿名:
Don’t even suggest it.
匿名:
Give us the money to renovate our houses then.
匿名:
Umm, isn’t this nursing the elderly rather than childcare?
匿名:
Does he seriously think this is going raise the birthrate?
匿名:
Thing is, we’ll end up nursing our elderly relatives rather than getting help bringing up our children.
匿名:
Doesn’t Abe realize that the youngest of the three generations of women will be completely stressed?
匿名:
What an absolutely idiotic idea, that the birthrate will go up if we live with the rest of our family. It’s not particularly easy to live with people, and there’s loads of stuff to fight over when you live together, too!
匿名:
So ultimately, you’re gonna leave it to the people to do something about it.
匿名:
So you’re saying that if a woman is old then you can just dump your kids on her?
There are plenty of older women who still work.
Instead, why don’t you raise the salaries of the teachers who work in nurseries and kindergartens, and make a lot more of them?
匿名:
And where’s all this proof that if three generations live under the same roof the birth rate miraculously goes up?
匿名:
The number of people getting married is falling all the time.
The point is that on top of nursing elderly relatives and raising children ourselves, they want to get us women out to work as well.
