Government : We understand that the worlds population is growing and aging at the same time. We came to the point that the reason to this is due to the increase of unmarried people and the rise of the first child birth age, long working hours, the burden and loneliness which occurs when taking care of a child. Many factors are complicatedly tangling each other to make this happen and it is important that we take detailed countermeasures against this problem.
Added to the governments support that we already give out, we have to make the society realize how important it is to get married, pregnant, taking care of small kids. When this type of thoughts gets shared and the actions start speaking, we will be able to start thinking more positively about the issue. We will continue to confront the aging society in a comprehensive way.
The one big factor that the government's perspective (and public communications) leave out is the fact that many couples with children struggle to find affordable daycare for their children. In addition, companies and even government bodies often don't have policies that facilitate having a happy family life. They may not be supportive of couple's taking a leave of absence to care for children or provide childcare at the workplace, which is often done in foreign countries. The following news story contrasts well the difference between the situation in New Zealand and that of Japan:
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