Based on the Tokyo Metropolitan government’s latest move, Fridays are now exclusively for fucking. To combat Japan’s rapidly declining fertility rates and improve work-life balance, Tokyo has introduced a four-day workweek for government employees that will begin in April 2025. The idea is to give more time to have unprotected sex.
Sure, they could do other things with that time. Go on a little weekend trip. Play a round of golf. Check out that Super Nintendo World in Universal Studios Japan. But the local government in Tokyo would really prefer if these people fucked each other and made a baby.
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But it’s not just about fucking! It’s also about giving prospective parents the time off to raise a child. For instance, in a separate measure passed by the Japanese government, parents of children in grades one to three would be allowed to exchange part of their salary for the option to leave work early. Doesn’t sound like a great deal but whatever.
To give you a sense of just how bad the birth rates in Japan have been recently, there is a tiny village called Ichinono with less than 60 residents, and almost all of them are elderly—only one child lives there. Its residents so miss the days when the village was filled with youth that they created mannequins depicting children riding bikes and swinging on swing sets and then placed them around town. It’s pretty bleak.
Japan has been making a lot of pro-fertility moves as of late in an effort to juice its birthrates. Local governments have introduced various measures to improve working conditions so people have more time for sex. Back in early 2023, the Japanese government made it easier for men to take paternity leave, though many were afraid to take it out of fear of some kind of retribution from their employers.
Japan has an intense work culture that many of its citizens view as a roadblock to building a family rather than being the engine that will help them provide for the family. Governor Yuriko Koike said these moves are needed to allow for greater work-life flexibility to support careers without forcing people to choose between working themselves to the bone or missing vital life events like the birth of a child or taking care of their kid.
