Even though modern Japanese women are moving to bigger cities for work, they are still in poverty. Even those who didn’t move for work can still be in poverty. It is expensive to live in bigger cities, and it is expensive to raise a child. This is why poverty is the third factor to Japan’s declining birthrate. Many modern Japanese women want lots of children, but when Chizuko Ueno asked them why they had none.
“Many parents gave the reason “it is expensive to bring up a child’” (Chizuko Ueno, 1998).
Those who live in poverty have a harder time paying for the needs of their children, like school and child-care. It is important to note here that all school must be paid for in Japan. From day-care to collage, all school has an actual price tag. In America we have public schools that are free, but in Japan, even public school must be paid for. The only difference is that public schools are cheaper, and they have different uniforms then private schools. In a family where both parents work, it is less likely that they will have children because they do not have the luxury to have one parent stay at home to look after the baby, nor do they have enough money for day-care. It also doesn’t help that the cost of housing has increased over the past couple of years.
The economy is so hard on people with children that is has become a luxury to have more children. By most Japanese people, it is hard to raise even one child, but it is also seen as a luxury if you can raise two or more. Those who grew up in poverty have learned to be on their own and that unless your break stereotypes, you can never have certain things. This reasoning has only encouraged the modern Japanese woman to go into the work force and to marry later in life after they have achieved their goals. This is reflected in the higher marriage age and not having children because they may have the mindset that once they have children they will be stunted in life; in their work place, in their independence, and in money.
You must also take into consideration how man people every year lose their homes due to the various natural disasters in Japan. These people weren’t always in poverty, but now they are.
Children line up for food and water at an evacuation center in Sendai, Japan on March 17th. 
(17, 18,19,20)
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