Japan's paternal leave rate hits record 40.5%

The increase in the year that ended last March came as Japan started requiring companies to check whether employees wish to take parental leave and introduced a new parental leave initiative in 2022.

The new initiative enables fathers to take up to four weeks of leave within eight weeks after the birth of a child, in addition to conventional parental leave.

The leave can be taken in two installments.

About 60 percent of fathers who took parental leave used the initiative.

The government aims to raise the parental leave rate for men to 50 percent in calendar 2025.

The survey was conducted last October and received valid responses from 3,383 businesses with five or more employees.