Japan newlyweds can receive up to ¥600,000 to start new life

@Ems

I know right! We pay taxes and contribute to things just like the Japanese do.

I really wonder the same thing too, whether foreign couples (that live long term in Japan and pay taxes and all) will get the grant too or not.

Well, we got the 100,000 yen corona aid, so I wonder about this as well.

@Yubaru

Narrow-minded people might not understand, but foreign residents live their lives here, pay taxes and contribute to the society just as much as (and in many cases more than) Japanese residents, therefore they should be eligible for the same benefits. We're not talking about tourists getting married in Japan, but people who have made a commitment to move here long term, and trust me, Japanese government does not give away resident visas to just anyone. This country is benefiting from having foreign residents here, so why deny them the benefits available for Japanese nationals. All residents, including foreigners, were eligible to receive the COVID 10k JPY payment (rightfully so), so why not apply the same rule to other benefits.

Also, this may not be a popular opinion, but gay couples can adopt babies (and female gay couples can even give birth themselves - imagine that), so imho they should be eligible too.

Giving money for having babies has a long and painful history in many countries and never ever turns out well for society or the children. Rather than giving money, a better way to raise the birth rate may be to meaningfully reduce the tax liability of parents so they could keep more of their own assets to raise children with. Reducing the liability rate according to the number of children would probably have great positive effect. Meaningful tax breaks across the board on money earned and money spent would allow parents to earn their children's support but not grind them down and break them like under the current tax regime.

The cost of having a giving birth in Japan is 1,000,000 yen...

What!? Where did you give birth, The Hilton?

Exactly. My wife and I paid no where near that much. You must have given birth at a Ritz-Carlton style hospital. For us, around ￥200,000 to 250,000.

 the nation's ultralow birth rate is attributed mainly to the tendency that people marry late or stay unmarried, 

Are you sure about this? I'm sure is more financial, since there are many people either out of work due to COVID-19 and part-time work with limited benefits. Starting families costs money.

The cost of having a giving birth in Japan is 1,000,000 yen... so yes, this is welcome, but would help more if the former could be reduced to 0 instead.

They also give out a lump sum for every childbirth that should be adequate to cover the cost of giving birth.

But if you did give birth at the Hilton you would have to shoulder the difference

The cost of having a giving birth in Japan is 1,000,000 yen...

What!? Where did you give birth, The Hilton?

The cost of having a giving birth in Japan is 1,000,000 yen... so yes, this is welcome, but would help more if the former could be reduced to 0 instead.

Children are expensive and takes up a lot of time so why not make it easy? Quickest way to boost the birth is to increase payments to mothers of children without a father of record. Make it financially worthwhile to birth babies instead of engaging in other pursuits.

Its worked wonderfully in the USA. A quick internet search of several sources gives rates of about 30% illegitimacy rate for all "White" births, about 70% illegitimacy rate for all "Black" births, and about 50% illegitimacy rate for "Hispanic" births. Combine those payments with a high rate of drug abuse and sex trade for drugs among young women and - VOILA!! - Japan too could have a child birth bonanza!

Lots of chlorine in the gene pool and lots of kids that will never amount to anything except trouble. But hey, its a quick route to greater socialist utopia.

Wouldn't a tax credit to the couple be much more efficient, given the graft in the Japanese real estate industry?

And it will immediately free up a lot of existing mothers to enter the workforce too.

And simultaneously cut into the bottom line of the many restaurants and kissaten that currently cater to these desperate to enter the workforce wives and mothers.

That bad ??!

Won't do squat, unless it's annual, and even then it would cover only a few months rent. This reminds me of when the government took away the family tax cut and then gave each adult 10,000 yen. 10,000 yen to get rid of a tax break FOREVER. If they are doing this it means they are getting ready to increase taxes somewhere else. My guess is they're going to cut health care coverage from 70% to 60%, grandfathered for the elderly (who control the wealth), of course, and soon lift the age you can receive pension from 65 to 75, etc.

Seems to me that making public babycare cheap and available (like France does) makes more sense than paying people to get married. All the Japanese parents I know complain about the high cost of kindergartens.

Agree.

And it will immediately free up a lot of existing mothers to enter the workforce too.

@Blue Sausage

But say a couple makes the sacrifices and has a few kids. What then? Because taxes to support the monstrous governmental structure take such a huge chunk of the couples' income, both parents usually have to be at work, commuting, or otherwise away from home for most of the waking hours. This means the children have to be placed in 'child-care' and the parents have limited contact with the children and virtually no influence over formation of the children's values and philosophy for life. The best the couple gets out of the bargain is to pay the bills. In a way, the couple is simply donating their lives to pay for developing more slaves of the state.

No wonder so many say "No Way!

That's true.....but the couple end up with the precious kids to love and enjoy forever. And usually those kids will take care of their parents when they get old. It's a huge win no matter the sacrifices.

I don't regret having any of our bunch.

1.36 seems more likely than the "two" quoted here! If they tend to have two, then the birthrate wouldn't be this low, which has also been dropping for years now!

I wonder if they are just pulling a number out of a hat, or taking that "two" number from some other country, as there is no way it's from here!

1.36 was the computed average for all women, married and unmarried.

For married women they are saying it tends to be two.

So they are encouraging people to marry because married women tend to have more children

I can't see the point in working and not taking care of your own children enough.

I stay close to my kids. But fathers are useless these days...

Kaching (sound of cash register) I already see business opportunities in this and the abuse that follows.

Almost like renting a friend now you can rent a husband. Or hey, wanna go half and half.

Its so easy to get married and divorce in this country.

As the nation's ultralow birth rate is attributed mainly to the tendency that people marry late or stay unmarried, the government will try to boost marriages

I see plenty of young couples around here who opt for a toy poodle instead of a baby. Seems to me that making public babycare cheap and available (like France does) makes more sense than paying people to get married. All the Japanese parents I know complain about the high cost of kindergartens.

BertieWooster

Does this apply to gay couples?

As long as they consist of a biological male and a biological female, why not?

Assuming the idea with the payment is birthrate increase, not virtue signalling.

Will I get the money if I marry my boyfriend

if you meet the criteria, of course!

Introduce a benefit system like the UK if you want your population to grow. You'll soon have millions of single mums.

The more support given to encourage childbirth, the better. Hopefully we'll all be seeing more beautiful happy kids in our neighborhoods who will grow to be the future of the country.

Next they’ll be passing out money just for getting pregnant.

Will Crown Princess Mako be applying any time soon?

Is this retroactive? We were married in 2012.

People often don't see an advantage to having children - either for themselves or the child. Some reasons include,

Many people find watching TV or Porn or playing video games to be way more fun than making and tending to babies.

Babies get in the way of a self-centered lifestyle because they are expensive and take up time and energy that a person could be spending on themselves.

But say a couple makes the sacrifices and has a few kids. What then? Because taxes to support the monstrous governmental structure take such a huge chunk of the couples' income, both parents usually have to be at work, commuting, or otherwise away from home for most of the waking hours. This means the children have to be placed in 'child-care' and the parents have limited contact with the children and virtually no influence over formation of the children's values and philosophy for life. The best the couple gets out of the bargain is to pay the bills. In a way, the couple is simply donating their lives to pay for developing more slaves of the state.

No wonder so many say "No Way!

Efforts should also be made to improve the toxic work environment here in Japan. It is difficult to start a family having to work a lot of unpaid overtime.

Q : how do you solve a complex problem like improving birth eate in the country ?

Japanese politician : Print money !

Medieval times otherwise. Marriage in Japan is a joke (I remember my sister in law's), no love no pleasure no money.

600 000¥ is better than nothing, but should be for each new born baby.

As other posters say, the people who deserve help are actual parents, not married couples. It is wrong to assume that the former must be the latter, and that latter must automatically turn into the former in the next year or two.

The best way to support parents is not childcare. Some parents are able to and happy to raise preschoolers by themselves, sometimes at great sacrifice. UBI/child benefit for parents of young children, which would help pay for childcare or reward those raising children themselves, is much much fairer.

the average number of children a woman will bear in her lifetime was 1.36 last year with a record-low 865,000 babies born

They just think by giving, 600 thousands yen and problem will be solved?

Here is the list of cities that are participating in this program.

Albeit, as was previously rumored and to the disappointment of many, it includes a lot of rural areas/ small towns.

https://news.yahoo.co.jp/byline/fujitatakanori/20200921-00199290/

So much for the Good Old Fashion LOVE!!

Right, I got married for lust, the "love" came a hell of a lot later, and not been married 35 years.

Dont be so naïve, if people REALLY waited until "love", the birth rate would be even lower! Things are different here, get used to it! "Dekichata " marriage is quite common, and no one really gives a crap about it either.

Guys and gals here just have to "get busy", the birth rate and marriage rate will surely go up, IF the government does a better job on the child raising issues that is!

So much for the Good Old Fashion LOVE!!

People are getting paid 600,000jpy to just get married and may be fall in love!???

How Sad.

agree with dbsaiya, getting people to marry is one thing, getting them to raise a family and sustain that family is another. We all know how family-friendly working life in Japan is. As long as that problem stands, you really won't see much takers of this. But then again, it's easier for an overweight person to buy a bigger pair of pants than to begin going on a diet when his clothes no longer fit.

Another stupid idiotic idea that just wastes $$$ & get NO results.......

As I have harped for decades now Japan MUST totally re-invent itself, a restoration, if it is to have a CHANCE to turn the birthrate around!!!

That said I dont think either the govt or people are up to the task or even care, so the rot & decline simply continues, I dont think it can even be slowed let along stopped at this point in time!

The only other way would be to allow a LOT of REAL immigration, but that will never happen, Japan can barely tolerate allowing in slave temp labour so forget about actual immigration!

How about raising child support money. who cares about marriage, the problem is the low birthrate.

5000JPY is just a joke, compared to other countries like Germany.

So easy to get married and divorced in Japan, can do it both in an hour. I wonder how many times you can get married and get the cash?

Subsidizing marriage is not the way to address the low birth rate. The current socioeconomic situation literally forces both to work, and without proper child care who in their right mind is going to revert to a single income household to feed an extra mouth? The old geezers are so out of touch.

Wedding dress rental half covered

Endless waste of taxpayers money.Japanese bureaucrats are geniuses for coming up with money wasting programs that only keep the average Taro and Hanako working like slaves to sustain a low standard of living despite the country being perceived from abroad as rich. It must be one of the 7 wonders of the world that the people keep voting for the LDP that have done nothing but increasing the mountain. The rot continues.

Does this apply to gay couples?

Why ask a question you already know the answer to?

Does this apply to gay couples?

Off the mark. The ultimate goal should be to raise the overall number of newborns, not to support young married couples.

Agreed. Support should be provided in childcare or education or other expenses to help raise a newborn. Will there be any audit on how the money is spent? Can it be used to buy a Switch for the couple's future child?

Off the mark. The ultimate goal should be to raise the overall number of newborns, not to support young married couples. Many Japanese (taxpayers) wouldn't benefit, but have to pay for the program. Besides, the plan has a serious loophole, subject to frauds (e.g. forged marriage). Inspections against frauds or irregularities are also costly.

Yubaru

1.36 seems more likely than the "two" quoted here! If they tend to have two, then the birthrate wouldn't be this low, which has also been dropping for years now!

That is two children is per married couple.

As the articles states, the nation's ultralow birth rate is attributed mainly to the tendency that people marry late or stay unmarried.

Less married couples = less children overall.

Not less children per woman. That is the reasoning behind this "bonus" for marriage.

The article also states 29.1 percent of single men aged 25 to 34 and 17.8 percent of single women cited lack of marriage funds as a reason they stayed unmarried

Which means 70% of men and 80% of women (in that age group) are rejecting marriage for a reason other than the economics.

Yep, throwing money at a problem is the best way of solving it.

Handing over a million yen of cash to secure a small rental apartment is certainly a crushing financial burden for many young people, not just in Japan. The problem there is the medieval business practices of Japan's real-estate industry and landlords, and this gift money will merely perpetuate the core cause of the misery. Force reform in that sector, instead. This policy is crazy.

Are foreigners eligible?

Check with your municipal office! If your spouse to be is Japanese, there shouldn't be any reason not. If both are foreigners, I wonder why you ask the question?

Eliminating a good chunk of couples.

So? Did you read the rest of the article, as to the "part" of the reason for the program?

Which isnt going to work anyway, as far too many couples here nowadays cant afford to have children as the costs of childcare and other expenses make it prohibitive!

If the government wants more kids, they really have to deal with the issues related to assisting families in raising the kids, and more support on that front.

Only 281 municipalities, or 15 percent of all cities, towns and villages in Japan, had adopted the program as of July as they must shoulder half the expenses, but in a bid to increase the number, the central government will bear two-thirds from fiscal 2021

I have a feeling that these places will most likely be located in the remote countryside where teleworking is the only viable and sustainable job. I second oldman, are foreigners eligible for this? I wouldn't mind living and working in the countryside and I'd sure love to avail this when I get married.

The program is part of government efforts to address the low birth rate as married couples tend to have two children, even though the average number of children a woman will bear in her lifetime was 1.36 last year with a record-low 865,000 babies born.

1.36 seems more likely than the "two" quoted here! If they tend to have two, then the birthrate wouldn't be this low, which has also been dropping for years now!

I wonder if they are just pulling a number out of a hat, or taking that "two" number from some other country, as there is no way it's from here!

‘Go to Marriage Life’.

To be eligible, both husband and wife will have to be under age 40 

Eliminating a good chunk of couples.

Are foreigners eligible?