Japan encourages fathers to take more active role in child care

Manabu Tsukagoshi, a Tokyo-based consultant, took a month of paternity leave after his second child was born. That prompted his stay-at-home wife to get a full-time job in the financial industry.

"When someone asks why I would take such leave when my wife was a stay-at-home mum, I tell them it was for her to go back to work," said Tsukagoshi, 38.

He plans to take leave again later this year from Toray Corporate Business Research, when his wife returns to work after having their third child. "We need role models to show that there are fathers who can do this."

While Tsukagoshi is among a tiny minority in Japan, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe wants men to take more active roles in bringing up their children.

The government's campaign is dubbed the "Ikumen Project", which translates as "men raising children". Just 1.9 per cent of Japanese men took paternity leave in 2012, according to figures from the government's Cabinet Office. The goal is to raise the figure to 13 per cent by 2020.

Some financial firms, including Nippon Life Insurance and Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance, have responded with programmes to encourage men to take time off after children are born.

Nippon Life, Japan's largest insurer, announced on March 20 that paternity leave participation had reached 100 per cent.