Children's Day...with a record low number of children

It's Children's Day today, a day all about celebrating your little ones – of which there are a dwindling number of here in Japan. Recent data indicated that the number of children 14 years old or younger fell for the 43rd straight year to around 14.01 million as of April 1st, via data sourced from the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communication...some pretty grim figures for anyone watching the country's demographic issues.

It has me wondering about what the future of this holiday will look like in the decades ahead. Without family-friendly workplace initiatives that people aren't afraid to use (or even punished for), a better promotion of gender equality, or tackling the cost of living issues facing everyone these days, there's not a lot of incentive for people to procreate. I'm a parent of two kids, and I certainly don't think we could afford any more in the current economic climate.

Koinobori on a trip to Hiroshima this time 10 years ago