{"id":3480,"date":"2011-11-06T18:00:06","date_gmt":"2011-11-07T01:00:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/humanium.org\/en\/?page_id=3480"},"modified":"2025-12-05T15:40:35","modified_gmt":"2025-12-05T15:40:35","slug":"japan","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.humanium.org\/en\/japan\/","title":{"rendered":"Children of Japan"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1>Children of Japan<\/h1>\n<h2>Realizing Children&#8217;s Rights in Japan<\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-3481\" title=\"Girl of Japan \u00a9 Tolga musato (flickr)\" src=\"https:\/\/www.humanium.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/japon-fille-tolga-musato-flickr.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"200\" \/> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-3482\" title=\"Boy of Japan \u00a9 Usrc (flickr)\" src=\"https:\/\/www.humanium.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/japon-garcon-usr.c-flick.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The third most powerful economy in the world, Japan, an island country in Eastern Asia, is very developed, with a high standard of living and a hope for long life. In addition, it looks like a good pupil, in regards to Children\u2019s Rights. However, despite this idyllic image, the archipelago is still confronted with some problems.<\/p>\n<table style=\"height: 38px;\" width=\"298\">\n<tbody style=\"background: #f2f2f2;\">\n<tr>\n<td>\n<div style=\"float: left; width: 100%;\">\n<p style=\"margin-top: 20px;\"><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"float: left; width: 39%;\">\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 20px;\"><strong>Population :<\/strong> 127,2 million<br \/>\n<strong>Pop. ages 0-14 :<\/strong> 13,4 %<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"float: right; width: 59%;\">\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 20px;\"><strong>Life expectancy :<\/strong> 83,6 years<br \/>\n<strong>Under-5 mortality rate : <\/strong>2\u00a0\u2030<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<h3>Main problems faced by children in Japan :<\/h3>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.humanium.org\/en\/poor-children\/\">Poverty<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>More than 15% of Japanese today live in destitution. A shocking figure since Japan has been considered as an egalitarian country for a long time. The situation is even more worrisome in single-parent families, notably for single mothers who often find themselves constrained in holding many jobs at once.<\/p>\n<p>Furthermore, the increase in the number of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.humanium.org\/en\/poor-children\/\">poor children<\/a> that are benefiting from school scholarships is an indicator of the expansion of profound poverty. From then on, these children live with great insecurity and access to their primary rights become quickly compromised.<\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.humanium.org\/en\/abuse\/\">Child abuse<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-3493\" title=\"Some children live in hell at home \u00a9 Benjamin Krause (flickr)\" src=\"https:\/\/www.humanium.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/violences-benjaminkrause-flickr.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"136\" height=\"200\" \/>The case of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.humanium.org\/en\/abuse\/\">child abuse<\/a> is reaching a new record level in Japan. In ten years, the statistics have increased exponentially. In 1990, there were 1,000 cases of abuse (physical and sexual) compared to 55,000 cases in 2010.<\/p>\n<p>Often neglected, shut in, malnourished, or still battered, these children are the sign of a Japanese child protection system on the verge of collapse. To remedy this, there exists a real need to train and sensitize the Japanese families.<\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.humanium.org\/en\/nondiscrimination\/\">Non-discrimination<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>A strong <a href=\"https:\/\/www.humanium.org\/en\/nondiscrimination\/\">discrimination<\/a> exists in Japan concerning children\u2019s rights. This discrimination can take two forms: racial or gender.<\/p>\n<p><em>Gender discrimination<\/em>: it\u2019s considered that girls should be good housewives and that boys should have prestigious professions.<\/p>\n<p><em>Racial discrimination<\/em>: children born to non-Japanese parents regularly suffer discrimination. In effect, other children are cautious to accept them and they are the subject of mockery. Facing this, teachers and parents hardly attempt to make children aware of the problems of racism. They are yet to teach the children to respect one another and accept differences.<\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.humanium.org\/en\/right-to-education\/\">Right to education<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-3494\" title=\"The course of excellence starts early in Japan \u00a9 Dana Spencer (flickr)\" src=\"https:\/\/www.humanium.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/education-danaspencer-noretouch-flickr.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"267\" height=\"200\" \/>In Japan, the university system is very elite. From nursery <a href=\"https:\/\/www.humanium.org\/en\/right-to-education\/\">school<\/a>, children work very hard until their entry into universities. Besides, numerous nursery schools even recruit competitively.<\/p>\n<p>Quite obviously, the consequences on the children are terrible. Indeed, under the constant stress of \u201cduty of excellence,\u201d some see suicide as their only means of escape. Unfortunately, Japan lists numerous cases of student suicides of those who cannot bear the pressures of school.<\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.humanium.org\/en\/sexual-abuse-children\/\">Sexual exploitation of children<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-3495\" title=\"Childhood is an inalienable right \u00a9 Aranmanoth (flickr)\" src=\"https:\/\/www.humanium.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/exploitation-aranmanoth-flickr.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"124\" height=\"200\" \/>Japan is a popular destination for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.humanium.org\/en\/child-trafficking\/\">trafficking young female<\/a> adolescents from Asia, Latin America, as well as Eastern Europe. They are made to believe that once in Japan, they could have a good job but the reality is completely different. Indeed, they are obligated very quickly<a href=\"https:\/\/www.humanium.org\/en\/child-prostitution\/\"> to prostitute themselves<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>These victims are not protected and are often even considered to be \u201ccriminals\u201d having violated the immigration laws. They end up being deported back to their own country without any psychological or material help.\u00a0 For some years, Japan has been working on this problematic <a href=\"https:\/\/www.humanium.org\/en\/sexual-abuse-children\/\">treatment of young girls<\/a>, but there is still much help that needs to be provided.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Environment<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-3496\" title=\"The ecological imprint of Japan, too high, is harmful for children\u2019s health \u00a9 Paul Rossman (flickr)\" src=\"https:\/\/www.humanium.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/environment-paulrossman-noretouch-flickr.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"267\" height=\"200\" \/>With 4.9 tons of emission of CO2 per habitant per year, Japan\u2019s situation in terms of pollution, could be improved. This last point has a harmful impact on the lives of children and their perspectives of the future.<\/p>\n<p>Their right to live and grow up in a healthy environment is not respected. Therefore, Japan has to make some progress in reducing its ecological footprint (necessary surface for a person or a group to produce what they consume and absorb what they waste).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Children of Japan Realizing Children&#8217;s Rights in Japan The third most powerful economy in the world, Japan, an island country in Eastern Asia, is very developed, with a high standard of living and a hope for long life. In addition, it looks like a good pupil, in regards to Children\u2019s Rights. However, despite this idyllic [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-3480","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Children of Japan - Humanium<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Despite being the third most powerful economy in the world, a strong gender and racial discrimination concerning children\u2019s rights exist in Japan.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.humanium.org\/en\/japan\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Children of Japan - Humanium\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Despite being the third most powerful economy in the world, a strong gender and racial discrimination concerning children\u2019s rights exist in Japan.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.humanium.org\/en\/japan\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Humanium\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-12-05T15:40:35+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.humanium.org\/en\/japan\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.humanium.org\/en\/japan\/\",\"name\":\"Children of Japan - Humanium\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.humanium.org\/en\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.humanium.org\/en\/japan\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.humanium.org\/en\/japan\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.humanium.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/japon-fille-tolga-musato-flickr.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-11-07T01:00:06+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-12-05T15:40:35+00:00\",\"description\":\"Despite being the third most powerful economy in the world, a strong gender and racial discrimination concerning children\u2019s rights exist in Japan.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.humanium.org\/en\/japan\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.humanium.org\/en\/japan\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.humanium.org\/en\/japan\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.humanium.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/japon-fille-tolga-musato-flickr.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.humanium.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/japon-fille-tolga-musato-flickr.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.humanium.org\/en\/japan\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.humanium.org\/en\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Children of Japan\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.humanium.org\/en\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.humanium.org\/en\/\",\"name\":\"Humanium\",\"description\":\"Children first!\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.humanium.org\/en\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Children of Japan - Humanium","description":"Despite being the third most powerful economy in the world, a strong gender and racial discrimination concerning children\u2019s rights exist in Japan.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.humanium.org\/en\/japan\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"Children of Japan - Humanium","og_description":"Despite being the third most powerful economy in the world, a strong gender and racial discrimination concerning children\u2019s rights exist in Japan.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.humanium.org\/en\/japan\/","og_site_name":"Humanium","article_modified_time":"2025-12-05T15:40:35+00:00","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Estimated reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.humanium.org\/en\/japan\/","url":"https:\/\/www.humanium.org\/en\/japan\/","name":"Children of Japan - Humanium","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.humanium.org\/en\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.humanium.org\/en\/japan\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.humanium.org\/en\/japan\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.humanium.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/japon-fille-tolga-musato-flickr.jpg","datePublished":"2011-11-07T01:00:06+00:00","dateModified":"2025-12-05T15:40:35+00:00","description":"Despite being the third most powerful economy in the world, a strong gender and racial discrimination concerning children\u2019s rights exist in Japan.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.humanium.org\/en\/japan\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.humanium.org\/en\/japan\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/www.humanium.org\/en\/japan\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.humanium.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/japon-fille-tolga-musato-flickr.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.humanium.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/japon-fille-tolga-musato-flickr.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.humanium.org\/en\/japan\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.humanium.org\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Children of Japan"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.humanium.org\/en\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.humanium.org\/en\/","name":"Humanium","description":"Children first!","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.humanium.org\/en\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.humanium.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3480","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.humanium.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.humanium.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.humanium.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.humanium.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3480"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.humanium.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3480\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":86612,"href":"https:\/\/www.humanium.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3480\/revisions\/86612"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.humanium.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3480"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}