JAPAN - Tokyo Introduces 4-day Workweek
The Tokyo government plans to introduce a four-day workweek for its employees in an attempt to support young families and boost record-low fertility rates nationwide.
The new policy is designed to encourage Japanese couples to have children at a time when the country’s fertility rate is at a record low. Last year, it dipped to a mere 1.2 children expected per woman during her lifetime, even with the government’s increased efforts to motivate young people to start families, according to the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare. That number should be at least 2.1 for a population to remain stable.
“Now is the time for Tokyo to take the initiative to protect and enhance the lives, livelihoods and economy of our people during these challenging times for the nation,” said Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike.
-www.nbcnews.com, 9 December 2024
Arno's Commentary
This highly industrialized and sophisticated nation is often considered the envy of the world.
Despite often-made claims about the Church in Japan, it is growing. The CIA Factbook states that only 1.1% follow the Christian religion. In industrialized countries, church membership is generally declining, with a significant drop in religious affiliation and regular church attendance across many Western nations. But the Church is growing in other places: “Christianity has been estimated to be growing rapidly in Latin America, Africa, and Asia. In Africa, for instance, in 1900, there were only 8.7 million adherents of Christianity; now there are 390 million, and it is expected that by 2025 there will be 600 million Christians in Africa” (studycountry.com).
With a population of over 123 million, Japan leads the developed world in life expectancy: 85.2 years.
Another super-rich and super successful state is Singapore. The government has released “new guidelines to all firms considering employees’ request for flexible work arrangements.”
According to one source, the following are low workweek hour countries:
Netherlands 27.5 hours
Germany 27.7 hours
Norway 28 hours
Demark 28 hours
France 29.7 hours
Less work, more earnings, more luxury. Yet, birth rates in Japan and other successful countries continue to decrease.
When the prophet Ezekiel mercilessly exposes Jerusalem’s sin, he also mentions Sodom: “Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fulness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy” (Ezekiel 16:49). That was in the past and is a prophetic shadow of things to come.
Arno Froese is the executive director of Midnight Call Ministries and editor-in-chief of the acclaimed prophetic magazines Midnight Call and News From Israel. He has authored a number of well-received books, and has sponsored many prophecy conferences in the U.S., Canada, and Israel. His extensive travels have contributed to his keen insight into Bible prophecy, as he sees it from an international perspective.
