Japan has long been known for a tiring work-life balance. Loyalty and diligence are fundamental to Japanese work culture, making long hours and unpaid overtime a typical and expected duty. Alongside these struggles, the rigid hierarchical structure of Japanese workplaces is prone to power harassment. This culminates in a stressed and burdened workforce. For those with children, these responsibilities become monumental.
Japanese births hit a record low for the first half of 2025. According to the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, the country recorded 339,280 births, 3.1% lower than the previous year during the same period. This follows a continuing trend of declining birth rates ever since the country reached its peak in 1973.
In response to declining birth rates, the Tokyo Metropolitan government began to allow its employees to work four days a week. These new policies aim to allow workers grappling with childcare a flexible work style, and Japan’s prime minister Sanae Takaichi has been at the forefront of the movement. Despite her endorsement of a healthy work life balance, however, her personal approach has been the opposite: after causing controversy by arranging a 3 a.m. staff meeting, she doubled down, saying she slept about “two hours, four hours at the longest.”
Takaichi’s comments rubbed salt into a still fresh wound. In 2015, 24-year-old Matsuri Takahashi died from karoshi: death by overwork. Her death sparked increased outrage and publicity that persists to this day. In response to the increasing backlash, the 2018 Work style Reform Act was passed. The act put a 45-hour cap on hours per month spent on overtime. Takaichi has opposed this, instead supporting the idea of relaxing overtime limits as an “important source of income.”
Though they do not aim to change the actual amount of time spent working, advocates of a four-day workweek hope these changes will allow workers with families to spend more time raising their children. Additionally, these benefits could incentivize young working people to procreate.
Although a four-day work week might seem like a dream, statistics show the opposite. Out of the 63,000 Panasonic Holdings Corp employees able to adopt a four-day schedule, only 150 employees opted in. Hesitation towards the adoption of a four-day workweek is largely motivated by the intense pressure to conform. Workers are afraid to relax for fear of inconveniencing coworkers or seeming lazy. If Japan wants to change the birth rate, it must first change the culture.
