ANN/THE STRAITS TIMES – Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike vowed to subsidise the cost of epidurals, in her latest effort to entice people to have children, as she seeks to fend off a challenge from a high-profile female opponent in a July election.
Koike, who is running for her third term as governor, announced the new policy amid a raft of others on June 18, while opposition Constitutional Democratic Party lawmaker Renho Saito also revealed pledges to improve compensation for contract and part-time workers as a way to fight the low fertility rate in the capital of the world’s most elderly country.
“After having their first child, I hear people say they don’t want to experience that pain again,” Koike told reporters, adding she would work so that women want to have a second or third child.
“I want people to see childbirth and raising children as a happiness, not a risk,” she said.
The campaign is set to start on June 20, with a record of more than 50 candidates set to run, according to public broadcaster NHK. The others include former mayor of a city in Hiroshima Shinji Ishimaru and former chief of staff of the Air Self-Defence Force Toshio Tamogami.
Koike’s platform includes expanding free childcare to first-born children. Renho, who generally goes by her given name, emphasised improving conditions for workers to change the tide on the fertility issue, with a pledge to turn contracted government staff into full-time workers.
“I will implement genuine long-term fertility measures, support young people thoroughly, and expand their life choices,” Renho said. “I will also realise transparent fiscal reforms, where everyone can check the situation.”
Demographic issues gained renewed urgency after data showed the fertility rate, an indication of the average number of children a woman is likely to produce over her lifetime, dropped below one in Tokyo in 2023, while the nationwide figure hit a record low of 1.2.
