Successive Japanese leaders – including Takaichi, the country’s first woman premier – have promised to increase births but with limited success.
Tokyo’s city government developed its own dating app, which requires users to submit documentation proving they are single and to sign a letter stating they are willing to get married.
“The declining birth rate and shrinking population are a quiet state of emergency that will gradually erode our country’s vitality,” Takaichi said in parliament last week.
Takaichi’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) won a two-thirds majority in the Feb 8 snap elections.
Increasing immigration would help reverse Japan’s falling population and the associated problems in the labour market.
But under pressure from the “Japanese first” Sanseito party, the right-wing Takaichi has vowed tougher measures on immigration.
The government said on Thursday it is striving to build a stronger economy to reduce the economic burden of childcare for working families.
“I believe there were some successes. Unfortunately, however, we have not managed to reverse this trend (of falling births),” Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Masanao Ozaki told reporters.
“I believe (an important factor) is to achieve a strong economy,” Ozaki said.
Read the full article here
