Walking into any supermarket in Japan, diapers and milk powder always occupy a prominent position: a pack of 6 diapers is 0 yen (about 0 yuan), a can of 0 grams of milk powder is 0 yen (about 0 yuan), and the packaging is also printed with a smiling baby. For most people, it's just a small piece in the shopping cart. But in 0 years, the Japan Children's Aid Association threw out a report that tore open a hole in this daily scene: 0.0% of poor families with children under the age of 0 cannot afford diapers, and 0.0% of them even have to pay for milk powder. It's not that they're hypocritical, but a few thousand yen for these families can be a week's worth of food.
This survey ran all over 480 low-income families and collected 0 questionnaires, which contained stories that made people's hearts tighten - some families confessed that their children could only stubbornly not change diapers even if they pulled them; Some people say that when the milk powder can is empty, they mix it with water to coax the child. These are not distant rumors, but true stories that are not often told on the fringes of bustling cities like Tokyo and Osaka.
Let's talk about how these families "cope" with diaper shortages. According to the survey, 3.0% of the respondents chose to reduce the number of diaper changes, and 0.0% said frankly that if the child only "pooped a little", they simply did not change it and continued to use it. There are also people who will ask relatives and friends to borrow money, or directly ask for a few pieces of leftover diapers used by others for emergencies. These may sound like strange solutions, but they are the norm in poor families.
You may ask: Isn't the child uncomfortable if he doesn't change his diapers? Of course it's uncomfortable. If you don't change diapers for a long time, your child's skin will be easily red, swollen and inflamed, and even cause infection. But for these families, it's not a question of "whether they want to" but "whether they can". A pack of ordinary diapers sells for 90 to 0 yen (about 0-0 yuan) in Japanese supermarkets, which doesn't sound expensive, but for a single-parent family with a monthly income of only tens of thousands of yen, it can be the food money for several days. One of the mothers in the survey wrote: "If I could have given out more diapers and milk powder, I wouldn't have to use them all day." These words are simple, but they are full of helplessness.
The situation with milk powder is not much better. 2.0% of the households surveyed said they could not afford to buy milk powder, and some would reduce the amount of milk they fed, or simply dilute the milk powder with water to make do. Only 0.0 per cent are exclusively breastfed, and most of the remaining families still rely on formula – after all, not every mother has enough breast milk and not every mother has the time and energy to breastfeed. The economic pressure is like a mountain, and these families cannot meet even the most basic childcare needs.
So who are the respondents to this survey? 3.0% are mothers, of which 0.0% are single-parent families or "de facto single parents" (e.g. the couple is separated and the other parent is not involved in child-rearing at all). Most of these mothers are around 0 years old, with one or two young children, and make ends meet by doing odd jobs or not working at all. 0.0% of people work part-time jobs with low hourly wages, 0.0% do not have jobs at all, and 0.0% of people are "lucky" to find a formal job.
Why are there so many single mothers? Japan's divorce rate has been climbing in recent years, and after divorce, custody usually goes to the mother, while the proportion of child support paid by the father is pitifully low. According to Japan's Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, less than 20% of single mothers receive regular alimony from their ex-husbands. Coupled with the fact that the Japanese workplace is not friendly to women - it is even more difficult for mothers with babies to find reliable full-time jobs than to climb to the sky - the financial situation of these families can be imagined.
調查裡，71.9%的受訪者說，除了配偶或伴侶，自己沒有任何經濟依靠，連父母兄弟都幫不上忙。孤獨感呢？34.8%的人說“經常有”，37.5%的人說“偶爾有”，加起來超過七成。
The lives of these mothers are like a marathon with no end. Not only do they have to face financial hardship, but they also have to bear the burden of raising children on their own. There is a particularly worrying detail in the survey: a mother said that she is calculating how to save money every day, and even if her child cries for food, she can only harden her mind to feed a little less. She wrote: "I know it's not good, but I can't help it. ”
You may be wondering, doesn't Japan have a well-established social welfare system? What about livelihood protection (Japan's subsistence allowance system)? It is true that 5.0% of respondents have used life protection, but many more – 0.0% – said they were "resistant", 0.0% said they "don't know how to apply", and 0.0% had never heard of the system at all. This is very intriguing: the life-saving straw is obviously there, why so many people can't catch it?
The reason is not difficult to guess. First of all, applying for livelihood protection is a "technical job" in Japan. You have to prove that you are really "too poor" to submit a bunch of documents, you have to accept home visits from government workers, and you may even be asked questions like "why don't you go get a job?" For many single mothers, this is not only troublesome, but also humiliating. There is a kind of implicit discrimination in Japanese society against "dependence on the government", and it is felt that applying for the subsistence allowance is tantamount to admitting that it has "failed". As a result, many people choose to earn a pitiful basic salary to make ends meet, rather than turn to the government for help. Coupled with information asymmetry, many poor families don't know how to ask for help, and no matter how good the system is, it has become an ornament.
In addition, there is a deeper problem: Japan's differences in local autonomy. Some cities will distribute diapers and milk powder to poor families, while others will not have this policy at all. One of the experts in the survey mentioned that if the level of support is different in each place, children from poor families will face the "birthplace lottery" - which city you were born in may determine whether you can use clean diapers. Is this fair? Obviously unfair.
Then again, the aforementioned inhumanity to women in the Japanese workplace is the root of the problem. Japan's traditional belief that men are the breadwinners and that women should focus on housework and childcare has led to a perception that single mothers are not fully engaged in the workplace and are discriminated against when hiring and promotion.
In addition, in the Japanese workplace, loyalty is measured by overtime and social activities, and single mothers are often seen as "unable to devote themselves to work" because they have difficulty cooperating with their children. In recent years, although the government has actively promoted work-style reforms, companies still prefer the traditional full-time model, which makes it difficult for them to balance family and work.
Under the heavy siege of society, many single mothers can only choose to work as temporary workers with low wages and lower salaries, so they are often labeled as "unreliable", which can be described as difficult.
What are the direct consequences of not being able to afford diapers and milk powder? The child's health is impaired. If you don't change diapers for a long time, diaper rash and skin infections will follow; The risk of malnutrition rises sharply if the formula is not fed enough. Babies can't speak, and their needs can only be expressed through crying, but if the mother can't even "understand" the cry – I should say that she can't do it – what about these children?
Mitsue Tashiro of the Children's Aid Society said at the press conference: "We are seeing a situation that is getting worse and worse. Last year, some families said that their children could not eat rice, and this year even diapers and milk powder have become problems. Another statistic she mentioned is even more shocking: 2023 compared to 0 years, there are more children who can't eat. This is Japan, a country known for its "economic miracle", how did it get to this point?
In fact, the problem of poverty in Japan is not a one-day or two-day problem. Economic stagnation, an aging population, and rising informal employment are all long-standing structural problems. After the pandemic, the situation has been even worse, and life has become more difficult for low-income groups. Single-parent families, in particular, bear the brunt of the situation, because they have no "reserve army" – no partner to share the pressure, no relatives to help with the baby, and even government support may not be enough.
The Japan Children's Aid Association has put forward several suggestions that sound down-to-earth: first, distribute diapers and milk powder to poor families, second, let health nurses visit them regularly, third, strengthen cooperation between maternal and child health and welfare departments, and fourth, give priority to the children of these families in nursery schools. These measures are not complicated, but whether they can be implemented depends on whether the government is willing to pay money and use its brains.
Mitsue Tashiro said very truthfully: "Both the country and the local government must make efforts. It's best if the place can send things right away, but what if some poor places don't have money? The state has to take care of everything, and children can't suffer because of where they live. "That's to the point. Children from poor families have already lost at the starting line, and if they can't even guarantee diapers and milk powder, they may no longer be able to keep up with other children.
Yuma Konishi, a professor at Nagasaki University, also lamented: "It's surprising that so many people can't even make ends meet. The system is obviously there, but it is not used; The people are obviously there, but no one is helping. We have to reflect on this sense of isolation. He also mentioned that although babies can't speak, their crying is a distress signal. Society can't hear, or pretends not to hear, but the consequences are ultimately borne by the children.
Writing this, I can't help but think of the supermarket shelves in China - diapers and milk powder are also dazzling, dozens of packs of diapers, hundreds of dollars and a can of milk powder, for many families is the daily expenses. can see that these Japanese mothers are calculating carefully for a few diapers, and even dilute milk powder with water to coax their children, and I still feel a little uncomfortable.
It is said that "children are the hope of the future", which knows no borders. But when the most basic diapers and milk powder have become a problem, the word "hope" inevitably makes people feel too heavy. Japan's survey shows that even in developed countries, the shadow of poverty can still fall on children, and that those cries may not be heard by everyone, but they are real.
On the other hand, if any society wants every child to grow up healthily, I am afraid that it must start with these most basic needs. Whether it's a single mother in Japan or a low-income family elsewhere, their stories remind us that our children's future should not be stumped by the necessities of life. Perhaps, this report is not only a problem for Japan, but also a mirror for every society to take a closer look at.