Corporate Child Care : In the Course of Action Plans of the Law to Promote Supportive Measures to Nurture the Next Generation

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Over the last four years from Fis.2004 to Fis.2007, the phrase "Work/Life Balance" has gradually become recognized in Japanese society. Corporate childcare has been promoted as part of work/life balance support through the enactment of action plans from the Law to Promote Supportive Measures to Nurture the Next Generation (abbreviated as "the Law for the Next Generation, " enacted in 2005). This enactment has some symbolic significance at the time of employment environmental changes. This study entitled, "Corporate Child Care: In the Course of Action Plans of the Law to Promote Supportive Measures to Nurture the Next Generation, " addresses such trends and current situational challenges of women's labor conditions.Specifically, I conducted research on family-friendly companies' corporate programs, focusing on the current situation of women's labor conditions and corporate daycare centers in the United States and Japan. I also researched women's working conditions after the enactment an … More d revision of Equal Employment Opportunity Law, the needs and process of establishment of corporate childcare centers as part of action plans from the Law for the Next Generation due to the declining birthrate. The publication achievements of this study include three academic journal articles and five books/publications (as primary achievements: a co-authored book, two academic journal articles and two chapters in other books; as indirect achievements: two book chapters, an academic report and other writings.)While conducting this research, I presented my findings at seven academic conferences and delivered approximately forty open lectures in Japan and abroad: e.g., in Fis.2004, the achievements of the study on corporate childcare in the course of the Law for the Next Generation were presented at Osaka Prefectural Women's Center (in December, 2004) and as a keynote speech in Fukushima Prefecture (in December, 2004). In Fis.2005, at the Maureen and Mike Mansfield Foundation, Fis.2006 at the U.S. Bureau of Statistics of Department of Labor, and in Fis.2007 at Tribhuvan University in Nepal, I had opportunities to make presentations on work/life balance in Japan. Concurrently, my comments also appeared in media sources and were addressed on television.Furthermore, the recognition of my study on the Law for the Next Generation by the M&M Mansfield Foundation and the National Association of Japan-America Societies provided an opportunity for me to visit the United States as a member of a Japan's women's delegation. I delivered on the Law for the Next Generation and women's labor issues, in addition to exchanging ideas and collecting information in the U.S. Through these academic activities, I believe I could make some contribution to furthering the knowledge associated with corporate childcare roles both in Japan and abroad. Less