Japan urges couples to have more kids

NO CHILD'S PLAY: Japan has one of the lowest birth rates in the world - at 1.26 children per couple.

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Keywords: Population, Economy

Tokyo: In work-obsessed Japan, Tomoyuki Moriyama has an unusual ambition.

The IT manager wants to have a third child - a rarity in a country where people can barely afford more than one, thanks in part to a new company policy.

"We are getting about $8,500 to have this baby. When I first heard the news, I thought I won the lottery!" said Tomoyuki Moriyama.

Moriyama's employer Softbank is one of a growing number of businesses here offering staff bonuses to help reverse the nation's declining population.

Japan has one of the lowest birth rates in the world - at 1.26 children per couple - setting the stage for the workforce, and possibly the economy, to shrink in the coming years.

This internet firm is getting its workers to have more kids with the promise of money and mobile phones.

Telecom firm NTT is shortening hours for workers with kids younger than nine.

And staff at Matsushita Electric, the creator of the Panasonic brand, can work from home at least one day a week.

Even Japan's military is becoming baby friendly. It's set up one of the first government nurseries here at its base in central Tokyo."

"I have three children. Without this nursery, I wouldn't be able to work,” said a nurse in self-defense forces, Keiko Shimada.

But not everyone is willing to take advantage of the new rules.

"Young people here don't feel they can insist on the entitlement because they know they are putting a lot of pressure to your peers,” said former minister, Kuniko Inoguchi

This makes it tough for people like Moriyama to accept a relatively new concept here, a sign that changing the rules here is one thing, changing the culture is an even more challenging task.