The Tokyo plans to introduce a four-day workweek for its employees starting in April, aiming to encourage young families and address Japan’s declining fertility rates. Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike announced that employees of the metropolitan government will have the option to take three days off each week, starting next spring.
“We will review work styles with flexibility to ensure that no one has to sacrifice their career due to life events like childbirth or childcare,” Koike stated in a policy speech at the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly’s fourth regular session.
This move comes as Japan faces historically low fertility rates. Despite government efforts to encourage family growth, the fertility rate fell to just 1.2 children per woman in 2023, well below the replacement level of 2.1 required to maintain a stable population, according to the Ministry of Health, Labour, and Welfare. Koike also introduced a new policy allowing parents of primary school-aged children to exchange part of their pay for the option to leave work earlier.
“In these difficult times, Tokyo must take the lead in improving the lives and livelihoods of our people,” Koike added. Last year, Japan recorded just 727,277 births, a sign of the nation’s ongoing demographic challenges. The culture of long working hours in Japan, which often forces women to choose between career and family, is thought to contribute to the low birthrate.
The World Bank reports that in Japan, labor force participation was 72% for men and 55% for women last year—figures that are higher than in many other high-income countries. The introduction of a four-day workweek is intended to provide government workers, particularly parents, with more time for family responsibilities. As part of the initiative, a new mechanism will allow parents of young children to reduce their working hours by up to two hours a day.
The new policy will impact over 160,000 Tokyo Metropolitan Government employees, who will have Fridays off. Several companies also took part in a four-day workweek pilot program in 2022 as part of a global trial organized by the NGO 4 Day Week Global.
Over 90% of participants in the trial expressed a desire to continue working a four-day week. They reported improvements in happiness, work-life balance, and both physical and mental health, while stress, burnout, and work-family conflicts decreased. The participants rated the experience 9.1 out of 10.
