Kensuke Miyazaki, 34, is currently generating a real tsunami in the politics of the Japanese country by declaring that he intends to take advantage of his right to enjoy paternity leave for when his son is born in the coming months.
So we can say that we are facing a kind of ronin, those samurai that roamed without a master for feudal Japan, because the idea has sat like a jug of cold water within its own ranks, the Liberal Democratic Party. We could say that we are facing the Japanese politician who challenges the millennial machismo of his country by asking for paternity leave
A permit that only 2.3% of Japanese parents enjoy compared to 60% of working mothers
And is that nothing is well seen in Japanese culture that the men remain in the care of the children, falling this on the mother and taking care of the father to be the one who brings the money. What does this sound like to me?
The parents have a paternity leave of 12 months with 60% of the salary, but still there are few men who enjoy it.
Set an example to other Japanese parents
Miyazaki says he hopes his decision will serve as an example to other parents to decide to spend more time with their children, especially in the first three years, because that is when his personality is being created.
Remember that one of the priorities of the Japanese Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, is that of promote the incorporation and continuity of women in the labor market and therefore he expects that scarce 2% of men who receive paternity leave increase up to 13% in 2020.
But it seems that they will have it very difficult because Miyazaki has suffered harsh criticism since the "hard wing" of his own party that has accused him of “Damage the reputation of all parliamentarians”. Other voices accuse him of wasting taxpayers' money by forcing them to pay their permit, or They wonder why he doesn't choose to hire a babysitter. And in Japan it is understood that if you take a leave for that reason is that you are not very involved in your work.
You see that it doesn't matter what part of the world you are in, the excuses are always the same and it is that it is still more scary a tantrum or a diaper change than the closing of the annual accounting.
