February 5, 2023

Prime Minister Kishida Fumio is calling for "different dimension" child support policies, but his lack of understanding of how time consuming it is to take care of a baby has been revealed in his recent answers to questions in the Diet.

PM Kishida in his answer given during the House of Councilors plenary session on January 27 called on women to “reskill” while on maternity leave to realize a salary raise and career advancement. This answer sparked criticism from women taking maternity leave. Many claimed, "It is impossible to make time for reskilling. He doesn't know the reality of women giving birth and looking after their babies."

Reacting to these criticism, PM Kishida at a House of Representatives Budget Committee meeting on January 30 said, "I myself am a parent of three children and I know firsthand how heavy the economical and temporal burden of childrearing is. I also know that it's mentally hard as well." He said this as if he had participated in childrearing.

However, his wife Yuko in an interview with monthly magazine "Bungei Shunju" in the March 2022 issue said that she solely brought up their children.

Although PM Kishida had not been practically involved in the care of his children, he talked about "the burden of parenting". He downplays the reality of women shouldering most, if not all, of the childrearing burden.