In Japan, single mothers struggle with poverty and with shame

OSAKA, Japan: The country suffered a “lost decade”, and then another one, after its bubble burst some 25 years ago. To this day, despite Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s efforts to reinvigorate it, Japan’s economy remains in the doldrums.

Now, experts are warning of a “lost generation” - a whole tier of Japanese children who are growing up in families where the parents - or, often, a single parent - work but do not earn enough to break through the poverty line.

“The Japanese economy has been getting worse and worse, and that’s hurting poor people, especially single mothers,” said Yukiko Tokumaru, who runs Child Poverty Action Osaka, a nongovernmental organisational that helps families in need.

The judgment and stigma that single mothers face in many countries are taken to another level in Japan, a homogeneous society where those who do not conform often try to hide their situations - even from their friends and wider family.

But Japan also has a culture that makes it difficult for women to work after having children - changing this is a key part of Abe’s solution to the country’s economic problems - and that makes life exponentially harder for single mothers.

“We have this culture of shame,” Tokumaru said. “Women’s position is still so much lower than men’s in this country, and that affects how we are treated. Women tend to have irregular jobs, so they need several jobs to make ends meet.”

Japan does have a welfare system, and it provides benefits according to different situations. A 35-year-old mother in Osaka with two elementary school-aged children and no job can expect to receive US$2,300 a month.

But the number of families living on an income lower than the public welfare assistance level more than doubled in the 20 years after the asset price bubble popped in 1992, according to a study by Kensaku Tomuro of Yamagata University.

Now 16 per cent of Japanese children live below the poverty line, according to Health Ministry statistics, but among single-parent families, the rate hits 55 per cent. Poverty rates in Osaka are among the worst.

“If parents are working poor, their children are poor as well, and the cycle of poverty is handed down to the next generation,” Tomuro said.

“Poor children can’t get higher education, so they end up with a bad job,” he said. The prolonged recession created a layer of second-tier jobs, in which workers do not get the security or benefits that had long been standard - damaging their prospects. “They can’t start a family as they can’t get married or have a child with a low income.”

This situation is all the more surprising given that Japan does not have anywhere enough children. The country desperately needs more taxpayers to fund the pensions of its rapidly ageing society.The falling birthrate means that the population, currently 127 million, is set to drop below 100 million by 2060, and one-third of Japanese will be older than 65.

Community centres in Osaka provide not only free dinners and playtime for children, but also camaraderie for the mothers.

“I feel relieved when I come here with my kids,” said Masami Onishi, a 23year-old single mother who stopped by an Osaka centre called Nishinari Kids’ Dining Hall, which is in a small, twobedroom apartment in a housing project.

“It’s a relief to meet fellow mothers and talk about any difficulties we are having. I realise that I’m not the only one going through this,” she said.

Onishi has a job operating a machine at a sheet metal factory, but it’s a struggle.

“And it’s fun to come here because I get to see my children smiling and other children smiling, too,” she said as her daughters, Sora, 6, and Yua, 3, ate octopus dumplings, an Osaka specialty.

“I want 20, and I’m going to eat them by myself!” yelled Masahide, an 8-yearold who came to the centre by himself and repeatedly lashed out at other children, hitting them for no reason.