Tokyo’s rolling out a drastic fix to shake off Japan’s grim label as the “world’s oldest population”—a four-day workweek. Starting in April, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, one of Japan’s biggest employers, will let its workers clock in just four days a week. They’re also tossing in a “childcare partial leave” option, trimming two hours off the workday for some, all in a bid to help parents juggle kids and careers. Governor Yuriko Koike’s behind the push, saying it’s about making sure women don’t have to ditch their jobs when babies come along. “We’ll keep tweaking how we work so life events like childbirth or raising kids don’t derail careers,” she told the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly recently, according to the Japan Times.
Japan’s in a full-on population crunch. The birth rate tanked to a record low in 2024, with the country’s total fertility rate—the average number of kids a woman has—sitting at a measly 1.2 in 2023. In Tokyo, it’s even worse at 0.99. To keep a population steady, you need 2.1, per the OECD. Meanwhile, the median age here is pushing 50, compared to 39 in the U.S., says the CIA. Decades of efforts—think mandatory parental leave since the ‘90s, daycare subsidies, cash handouts for parents, and even a government dating app launched earlier this year—haven’t stopped the slide. Births have dropped every year for the past eight.
The four-day workweek is a stab at cracking Japan’s brutal work culture, especially for women, who get stuck with five times more unpaid chores like childcare than men, according to the IMF—one of the widest gaps in OECD countries. Trials elsewhere hint it might help: men in four-day setups have bumped up childcare by 22% and housework by 23%, alongside perks like less burnout and sharper focus, says Peter Miscovich from JLL. “Less stress, better sleep, more commitment to the job—it’s a win,” he told Fortune. But not everyone’s sold. Julia Hobsbawm, a workplace expert, cautions it’s not a magic bullet. “No one-size-fits-all here. What works for one industry or country won’t automatically fix another,” she said.
Tokyo’s not stopping at shorter weeks. That dating app’s still in play, trying to spark marriages and, hopefully, more kids. Still, turning around a shrinking, aging population might take more than a long weekend and a swipe right—Japan’s betting on it anyway.