Japan has two kinds of leave for parents.
Birth Leave
Only available for women. You can start birth leave up to six weeks
before the planned birth date and it extends eight weeks after the actual birth
date.
Childcare leave
Available to both the mum and the dad. For the dad it starts on the
actual birth day and can last for up to one year. For the woman it starts two
months after the actual birth date (end of birth leave) and lasts for up to one
year. Childcare leave can be extended up to two years if the child cannot get
into daycare.
Childcare leave
So, one year off work. Sounds great! And it is!
Money
You do get paid during childcare leave. Not by your company, but by
the government. In the first month of leave you receive 100% (or a maximum of about
390k) of your post-tax average monthly salary (fixed salary plus bonuses over
last twelve-month period divided by twelve) from the year leading up to the
birth date. For months two through six, you get 67% of pre-tax salary (or up to
320k). For month seven onwards you get 50% of pre-tax salary (or 230k).
Is that enough?
Just for reference, 5 million yen pre-tax annual is equivalent to
320k per month. So, assuming that even if you are limited by the upper bound of
320k, you’ll still be receiving the equivalent of more than the national
average household salary for the first six months. Obviously if you make less
to begin with then the amount you receive will be less.
I’m sure every situation is different, but for my family of four
(one baby and one toddler)? For the first six months, absolutely, yes, it’s
enough. Especially when it’s two of us each receiving it. Rent for our two-bedroom
flat is roughly 150k, then on household expenses (food and clothes for
everyone, little daytrips etc.) we spend anywhere between 120k to 200k. So
quite a lot left over. Even for the seventh month onwards we’d be able to
scrape by. With two kids under the age of two it’s not like we have the time or
energy to go out and do expensive things. I’m sure if you live right in one of
the central areas of Tokyo, rent will gobble up a large part of the money. If that’s
the case and you plan on taking leave, then I hope you have some savings to
fall back on.
Father probably not taking leave
Most likely the father won’t be taking leave anyway. 2025 data shows
that only 30% (記者発表会資料) of fathers took leave
(up from 17% the previous year). This may seem quite high but there is no data
on how long they took leave for. Even just one day would count as taking leave.
Given that, I think it’s actually quite surprising how low it is. Men aren’t
taking the day off for the birth? Maybe it’s too much hassle to go through the
process of applying for leave so they just use a regular holiday.
Or maybe their wife went back far away to her parents for the birth.
This is actually still quite common. It’s called sato gaeri – or just
returning home. It’s the traditional way of doing things but is getting less common
nowadays. If both people in the relationship have moved from far away to Tokyo
for example the wife could be travelling quite a distance back. The wife will normally
stay with her parents for about two months while the husband carries on
working.
I know at my company I’m the only male to have taken such a long
childcare leave. Seven months the first time, with seven months planned for
this time too (although that all depends on daycare availability). Out of all
the male colleagues I’ve spoken to, the longest men at my company seem to take
is one month, with most taking less than one week.
For long-term leave, the answer as to why more men don’t take it is
probably obvious, money. Second most common answer I got was that they were
worried of the impact it would have on their long-term career. Third most
common is that with the wife at home anyway they’re not needed. It probably is
true that I don’t care about money or my current career as much as most people
do.
Why don’t men take leave?
While I wasn’t hesitant about taking leave itself, I was quite
nervous about telling my bosses that I would be so I get why a lot of Japanese
men are reluctant to. But to actually let the reluctance of that potentially
awkward conversation get in the way of taking leave is a bit bizarre. My bosses
were more supportive than I expected though. Once they got over the
bewilderment of the HR processes they and I had to go through they didn’t say
anything negative.
Do women take leave?
Usage rates for women are obviously much higher at 84%. You may be
wondering why this is not 100%. Surely they would take the day off at least for
the birth. But I think it just comes down to the way the data is collected. The
data set is just all employed women who were registered with a place of work at
the time of birth. Some may quit and some may not be in the right kind of work
contract to be able to apply for leave.
Going back to work
Going back to work last time was quite stressful for the first month
so I do wish I’d looked into more flexible options for that month. This time
around I defiantly will! I think my first child got sick three times in that
one month. And of course she passed those illnesses onto me. So working a
full-time schedule in combination with the initial shortened daycare hours
(when the kid gets accustomed to the new environment), that month was pretty
tough.
It turns, however, that companies have to give you the option of a
6-hour workday until the child turns three. Of course, it’s up to the company
to offer other flexible work schedules if they want, and I’m pretty sure my company
does. So, for the first month back I’ll be looking to take advantage of that in
combination with working from home.