Hello Baby!

"I had a baby!" A former KAIWA client in Hawaii recently gave us the exciting news. I am happy to hear that both she and a girl are doing well. In Japan, where the healthcare is nationalized, it is usual for a mother and a child to stay in a hospital for about a week. But in America the healthcare is private, so unless there are medical complications, the mother and child are released from a hospital as soon as possible. Is it enough time for them both to gain their strength? She said that her mother recently came from Japan to Hawaii to help her awhile. In addition, her husband took one month paternity leave holiday to help her. How nice to read this! In Japan this would be impossible not only because corporate Japan would not allow a man to take so much time off but also because in Japanese culture it is believed that raising children is a women's business and that Japanese men are so detached from things in the home that they would not be very helpful for children's matter. This is another one of the reasons that Japanese ladies want to meet American men instead of Japanese men.