Hiroyuki Ogino stayed home from his job in telecoms to take care of his son for a month this spring -- one of a tiny but growing number of Japanese men opting for paternity leave despite the risk to their careers. “It really is as if we are putting a minus against our names, causing problems for our colleagues by not being around to pull our weight, In spite of it all, I'm glad I did it.” said Ogino, a 38-year-old father of two.

荻野博之今春暫時向他任職的電信公司請假1個月，在家照顧小兒子。雖然為數不多，荻野只是其中一位，但愈來愈多日本男人選擇休育兒假，儘管這可能危及他們的職業生涯。荻野說：「這的確好像給自己扣分，由於我們未能盡自己本分堅守工作崗位，而造成同事困擾。儘管如此，我還是很高興這麼做。」荻野今年38歲，是兩個孩子的父親。

With only 1 percent of the country's eligible male workers taking time out, dads like Ogino are hard to come by in Japan. Japan's fathers spend less time on child care and housework than their counterparts in any other developed country. For instance, 85 percent of Swedish fathers take parental leave. Those who don't even face questions from family, friends and colleagues.

日本目前只有1%符合資格的男性職工願意休育兒假，像荻野這種奶爸有如鳳毛麟角。跟任何其他已開發國家的父親相比，日本奶爸花在照顧孩子和家事上的時間要少得多。像瑞典就有高達85%的父親休育兒假，那些不休假的，甚至還引起家人、朋友和同事側目。

But thanks to a new set of government initiatives that encourage working dads to take time off -- part of a broader effort to boost Japan's rock-bottom birthrate -- the number of fathers who swap their desks for diapers may be about to rise. Under the revised Child-care and Family-care Leave Law, which takes effect on June 30, fathers will be allowed to take more time off to look after their children. Employers will also be obliged to allow a shorter six-hour working day to staff with children under three years old and in some cases, fathers will be exempt from working overtime.

但為了拉抬已經跌到谷底的生出率，日本政府推出鼓勵上班爸爸休育兒假的新配套措施，這只是諸多努力之一，預料將有更多奶爸走出辦公室，回家換尿布。根據6月30日生效的《育兒介護休業法》修正案，父親將可休更長的假來照顧孩子。雇主也有義務讓幼兒不滿3歲的父親縮短工時到6小時，在某些情況下，甚至可免加班。

Masayuki Yamaguchi, a spokesman for Japan's labor ministry, said the initiative, which includes the launch of a self-help website, aims to help dads manage their work-life balance. According to a Ministry survey, as many as a third of Japan's dads would like to take paternity leave. But many of Japan's “Salarymen”, who are notorious for working grueling hours, are afraid that taking time out as a stay-home dad could harm promotion prospects and damage relations with colleagues who have to cover for their absence. Even at the ministry, leave-taking dads account for a mere 2.3 percent, far below the government's target of 13 percent by 2020.

日本厚生勞動省發言人山口表示，這項方案包括推出一個自助網站，目的是幫助奶爸維持工作和生活平衡。厚生省調查顯示，多達1/3的日本父親想休育兒假。但日本很多上班族，以工作超時過勞知名，他們很怕休假在家當奶爸，可能使自己無法升遷，又因休假增加同事工作負擔而危及人際關係。即使在厚生勞動省內，也只有2.3%的奶爸休育兒假，遠遠低於政府預設到2020年要達到13%的目標。

Mitsuhiro Sato, 34, a lawyer who works in Tokyo, decided to take six months of paternity leave to look after his newborn son. “Compared to working it was a completely different sort of challenge,” he recalls. Back in his Tokyo apartment, Sato looks back on his time as an iku-men. “It was up to me to prepare all of our meals and do all of the cleaning,” he recalls, as his wife Yoko took care of their son Kiichi. “I don't think that paternity leave is for everyone. But if a man wants to take time off to look after his child, it's important for there to be an environment where he can do so.”

在東京執業的34歲律師佐藤光弘也決定休6個月育嬰假，照顧剛出生的兒子。「跟上班相比，這是完全不同的挑戰。」他回憶說。回到他在東京的公寓，佐藤回顧他當奶爸那段時間。「我得準備所有飯菜和清掃家裡。」他回憶說，他的妻子洋子則專心照顧他們的兒子喜一。「我想，育兒假不見得適合每個人。但如果一個男人想請假幫忙照顧孩子，重要的是：應該有個環境，讓他可以這樣做。」

One group trying to change Japan's dads' workaholic image is “Fathering Japan,” a not-for-profit organization aiming to promote understanding of stay-home dads. “If a male worker announces that he is going to take paternity leave, people around him start to doubt his suitability for the job. There's a chance that they'll start thinking that he's planning to quit,” said Tetsuya Ando, who founded the organization five years ago. “So many male employees are worried about even talking about taking time off. We need a change in attitudes, and a change of environment in the work place.”

非營利的「日本父愛組織」，正試圖改變日本爸爸工作狂的形象，並讓更多人了解居家奶爸。「如果有個男性員工宣布，他準備請育兒假，周圍的人便開始懷疑他是否適任，他們甚至可能開始揣測，他是否準備辭職。」5年前創立該組織的安藤哲也說：「很多男性員工因為很擔心，甚至連提都不敢提要休育兒假，我們需要改變態度，改變職場的氛圍。」

And there are some signs of change. A relatively new, and so far small, group of prominent stay-home dads who put their career on hold to look after their children have been making headlines. Japan's so-called “iku-men”--a play on the Japanese word for child-rearing, “iku-ji”-- include the mayor of Tokyo's Bunkyo ward, Hironobu Narisawa, and Takeshi Tsuruno, a high profile celebrity. “I would wake up at 6 a.m. to make the kids' packed lunches and then see them off to school. I've seriously come to understand the difficulties my wife faced,” Tsuruno, 35, told reporters when he announced his plan. “But I hope that society will change so that men can take leave too.”

目前已經有些改變的跡象。一群相對較新、到目前為止規模仍小的知名居家奶爸，他們暫時擱置自己的事業以全心照顧孩子，他們經常上報。日本所謂的「育兒奶爸族」，典出日語「育兒」，成員包括東京文京區區長成澤廣修，及名歌手鶴野剛士。「我會在早上6時起床，幫孩子準備便當，然後送他們上學，我已經深刻體會到妻子所面臨的困難。」35歲的鶴野宣布他的計畫時告訴記者：「但我希望社會能夠改變，讓男人也可以休育兒假。」

To gauge these changing attitudes, O-net, one of Japan's most visited online match-making services, asked 900 single women what was most important when looking for prospective husbands. Iku-men fared better than high wage-earners. The dating service, which has over 40,000 registered users, found that 88 percent of its respondents gave high scores to men with a positive attitude toward housekeeping and childcare, compared to 75 percent who listed income as important. Only 61 percent cared about their prospective husband's profession.

為了評估這些態度的改變，日本提供網上約會媒合服務、瀏覽量最大的O網，曾問900名未婚女性，在找未來的夫婿時最重要的考量是什麼，結果育兒奶爸族比高薪上班族更受歡迎。這個約會服務網，有超過 4萬個註冊用戶，他們發現，88%受訪者給以積極態度面對家務和照顧孩子的男人高分，相形之下，75%認為收入是重要因素，只有61%關心未來丈夫的職業。

Photo shows Mistuhiro Sato （R）playing with his three-year-old his son Kiichi at their home in Tokyo June 27, 2010.

圖為佐藤光弘（右）6月27日在東京家裡陪3歲大的兒子喜一玩耍。圖／路透