Tokyo will implement a shorter work week to encourage birth and family time

The authorities of Tokyo, the busy capital of Japan, are preparing to launch an initiative through which they seek to ensure that citizens not only enjoy quality family time, but also expand it. With this, they intend to combat the historic low birth rates that the country is facing.

Many developing countries face low birth rates, but the problem is especially serious in Japanwhere according to the governor of Tokyo, Yuriko Koike, There is “a crisis due to the decline in the number of children… There is no time to waste.”

(Also read: Colombia, with fewer and fewer births: in 2024 they have fallen by 14.4%)

According to CNN, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government will put into operation next April an agreement through which public employees will be able to have 4×3 weeks.

According to the plan, Government personnel, except shift workers, may take up to three days off per week, but they must complete 155 hours a month, Sachi Ikegami, head of personnel affairs at the Tokyo metropolitan government, told AFP.

To the Employees raising young children will also be offered more flexible schedules, with working hours reduced to two hours, Ikegami added.

The Japanese governor asserted that work styles and flexibility will be reviewed, to ensure that no one has to abandon their careers to raise children.

“Now is the time for Tokyo to take the lead in protecting and improving the lives, livelihoods and economy of our people during these difficult times for the nation.”Koike commented.

According to the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, in 2023 Japan recorded only 727,277 births.

Free daycare in Tokyo

Another of the strategies proposed to promote birth rates in the city is based on ooffer free childcare from September 2025.

The measure aims to reduce the financial burden on families by extending the current free childcare policy for the second and subsequent children to the first-born child.

The Japanese press says that the measure in Tokyo, one of the largest cities in the world with 14 million inhabitants, is the first of its kind at the regional level in the country.

Japan has the second oldest population in the world, after Monaco, and faces growing labor shortages due to its strict immigration rules.

(Also read: What are the consequences for the country’s development if the birth rate continues to decline?)

Countries with pilots of weeks with 4 days

According to the 4 Day Week portal, no country has fully adopted the 4-day work week; However, more than a dozen have piloted it, have companies that implement it or have had reductions in it. These are:

• Australia.
• Austria.
• Belgium.
• Brazil.
• Canada.
• Denmark.
• France.
• Germany.
• Iceland.
• Ireland.
• Japan.
• Netherlands.
• New Zealand.
• Norway.
• Portugal.
• Scotland.
• South Africa.
• Spain.
• Sweden.
• Swiss.
• United Kingdom.
• USA.
• United Arab Emirates.

Among the advantages of this strategy, the pilots have indicated that workers are more efficient and income does not decrease. In addition, there is greater employee loyalty.