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9 Comments

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  herefornow at 12:49 PM JST - 18th November

  Sounds reasonable to me.

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  tokyokawasaki at 12:53 PM JST - 18th November

  Oh, and how about sexual equality when paying benefits to a single parent family. Unbelievable that fathers do not qualify for it, only mothers can claim it... What is this saying (indirectly)? Get out of the dark ages and realise it is almost 2010...

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  some14some at 01:25 PM JST - 18th November

  Sounds reasonable to me also but j-govt is unlikely to review. so? read and forget.

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  Foxie at 01:53 PM JST - 18th November

  I really can't agree that each family should be given that allowance. Give it to the poor but not to the rich. More flexible day care centers at affordable rates would help a lot more.

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  kirakira25 at 03:24 PM JST - 18th November

  This is no use if once the kids are in elementary school the mothers have to stop work again because they can`t find reasonable jobs where they can work from 9.30-3.00 and be home when the kids get out of school.

  Oh yes, I forgot, it`s OK here for a 6-12 year old to fend for themselves

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  hakujinsensei at 03:50 PM JST - 18th November

  I think Angel needs to think about things beyond the numbers. Things work different in Japan than Mexico.

  In spite of the fact that the expenditure per student in Japan is among the lowest in the world for developed countries. Japan has one of the world's highest ratios of children enrolled in Higher education and the highest literacy rate in spite of using its arcane heiroglyphic writing system. I have had my kids in both Japanese and American schools and the education they get in the J system makes a joke of US schools.

  Though I believe that the keynsian idea of inflating the money supply to cure any and all economic ills is ultimately counter productive, if we are allocating funds for youth, allowing the parents to do things like feed and clothe their kids and afford safe convenient housing by providing direct support on a per child basis is not a bad idea. Especially if it were a progressive allotment based on income.

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  Speed at 05:51 PM JST - 18th November

  I like the idea of 2,600 yen for family with kids up to JHS. Expenditures for kids do not decrease as they get older.

  Also the idea that the govt. will help out for a longer period of time, make couples, especially mothers, feel more secure and confident in having children.

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  5SpeedRacer5 at 07:26 PM JST - 18th November

  Hmm. The poor. The rich. Who are these adjectives and how shall we know them? "The rich", from what I understand, are already ineligible for most government hoikuen, but they pay for them anyway. They pay more in head taxes, payroll taxes, income taxes, health insurance, and darn near everything else. Topping it off by saying that their kids don't deserve support pretty well draws the line. Why not just come out and say it... RICH PEOPLE RAUS!

  On another note, I think the J government is doing just fine thank you. By any measure, it is not hauling up the rear in the OECD. So the OECD should butt out and go bother someone who needs help. Allowing a mother to make a decision about how to care for her children makes TONS of sense to me and poses the least likelihood of setting up another child-based bureaucracy JUST when Japan does not need one. Take the money you save on secretaries and bureaucrats and give it to mothers to spend as they see fit. Businesses will form to fill their needs.

  Just as a point of conversation, there are some who believe that reducing pension benefits is a better inducement to having children than lowering child care costs. THe logic is that children are more reliable than pensions to take care of you when you are old. So if we really want a baby boom with healthy happy children, we should cut pension benefits and give them to mothers, especially single mothers. Now THERE is a thought.

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  HenoHenoMohe at 09:37 PM JST - 18th November

  Thanks for you suggestion Angel! Like you would know what it is like to live and raise a child in Japan. Your recommendation might ultimately benefit the global economy as a whole (your country included) but the residents of Japan want tangible money right in their pockets every month and be able to spend it in the way they choose to. Kind of why we parents voted for Hatoyama if you haven't figured that. Come back if you want to rephrase that sentence to:

  "The OECD recommended that Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama’s government channel more taxpayers’ money into preschool education and childcare, AND ALSO giving a monthly allowance of 13,000 yen in fiscal 2010 and 26,000 yen from fiscal 2011 for each child of junior high school age or younger."

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