Tokyo enacts four-day workweek to help end Japan's demographic crisis

Tokyo is making headlines with an unprecedented initiative: a four-day workweek for its government employees as an attempt to reverse Japan’s alarming demographic crisis and tackle the country’s status as the world’s oldest population. This idea, first introduced in 2024, is not merely about economic productivity — rather, it is part of a concerted attempt to support families and boost birth rates in Japan.

Key Takeaways:

• Leaders in Tokyo have implemented a four-day workweek for government employees.

• The initiative aims to allow workers more time at home with their families.

• It's one way to tackle the government's plummeting birth rate.

The Details:

In April 2025, the Tokyo Metropolitan government started permitting its employees to work only four days a week — a decision that could significantly impact how families in Japan balance work and home life. This new workforce policy aims to address Japan’s record-low birth rate, which has been in steady freefall for almost 10 years. With the average Japanese woman now having fewer than 1.3 children, far below the 2.1 needed to maintain a stable population, Tokyo’s leaders are hoping that more time at home will help families grow and thrive.

“We will continue to review work styles flexibly to ensure that women do not have to sacrifice their careers due to life events such as childbirth or child-rearing,” Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike said in a speech during the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly’s regular session in December 2024, in remarks cited by the Japan Times. 

Notably, the four-day workweek is meant to offer employees more time for family, rest, and personal well-being. Koike highlighted that the goal is to aid women, in order that they need not forgo their careers for motherhood. Also, the policy entails a “childcare partial leave” option, permitting some parents to cut daily working hours by two to care for young children.

Zoom Out:

Fortune underscored Japan's demographic crisis, reporting: 

“From January to June, the country recorded 339,280 births, around 10,000 fewer births than during the same period last year, according to the Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare.

Japan’s total fertility rate, which represents the number of children a woman has in her lifetime, stood at 1.2 in 2023, and in Tokyo, the birth rate was even lower at 0.99. ...

The median age of a Japanese citizen is 49.9, according to the Central Intelligence Agency. In the U.S., the median age is 38.9. Japan has taken drastic steps toward reversing its low birth rate.

Starting in the 1990s, the government required companies to offer generous parental leave, added subsidies for day care, and started offering cash payments to parents. Earlier this year, the Tokyo government also launched its own dating app to help single people find a partner and marry. Yet the birth rate has still fallen consistently over the past eight years, according to government data.” 

For years, Japan’s work culture has been notorious for its excruciating hours and demanding schedules, which can make it challenging for parents — particularly mothers — to juggle their family and professional responsibilities.

The Tokyo government’s introduction of a four-day workweek is a step in the right direction to correct this imbalance.

The Bottom Line:

From a pro-life viewpoint, the Tokyo four-day workweek is good news. By facilitating parenthood and child-rearing, this policy shows that the government can help alleviate the demands on parents to aid them in their roles to care for the next generation.