Paternity Leave in Japan

Paternity leave in Japan

Hi, I am Aky, a father of three children.

I am from Tokyo.

I have experience taking a whole year of Paternity leave in Japan which is not well known as one of the best places in the world to take.

Because it has so much friendly system.

I will show you what it is like.

Parental Childcare Leave the system in Japan.

Once you know your baby is going to be delivered.

It is very hard to leave all the child-rearing to your wife, and you want to reduce the burden on women or share it half and half.

Japan has one of the best Parental Childcare Leave systems in the world.

In a super simple way, this Japanese system is world top class to help men and women “balance work and childcare“

Top-class system in the world

Some benefits come with parental leave in Japan.

For instance, most people who work for more than one year can get compensation of roughly 80% of the monthly salary for one year in principle.

Childcare leave benefits in Japan

Under the Japanese childcare leave system, if you meet certain requirements, such as not being paid wages, you are entitled to three major compensation types.

1. Payment benefits.
The amount paid is 67% of the wage at the start of the leave for the first six months, and 50% thereafter.

2. Tax-free benefits.
The childcare leave benefit is tax-exempt, so no income tax will be charged. It also does not affect the amount of resident tax calculated for the following year.

3. Exemption from social insurance and unemployment insurance premiums

In Japan, there is a social insurance system, and paying social insurance premiums is a source of funds to provide benefits to citizens when they fall into trouble such as illness, nursing care, or unemployment.

Both employers and employees are exempt from paying these social insurance premiums during childcare leave. If there is no salary income, there will be no unemployment insurance premiums.

As a result of the above, your take-home pay will be up to 80%of what it was before the leave.

Difficulty to take Paternity leave in Japan

Even though it is a wonderful system, there are still two major problems:

the low acquisition rate and short acquisition period for a large number of actual acquisitions.

The main reason is “the atmosphere in the workplace that makes it difficult to take childcare leave.

Despite the legal framework, the biggest obstacle for acquirers is the lack of understanding from those around them in the work environment.

My case – What you need: Courage

I took my parental leave when my second child.

I had already experienced the limitations of raising a child while working full time with my first child.
When I learned about the childcare leave system, I did not care what the company thought of it.

In fact, in taking paternity leave, I did not experience any discrimination.

Rather, I think I received a warm reception from those around me.

However, it is undeniable that the response varies from company to company.

Either way, the current situation requires men to be ready or brave enough to quit their jobs.

However, if the outcome is good for the family, it will be well worth it!