THE Mejiro Birth House in a northern district of Tokyo is eerily quiet: no babies crying, no wails of women in labour. That, explains Yuko Hoshino, the chief midwife, is because it is empty. Only four to six babies are born there each month, compared with 14 to 16 a few years ago. The problem is not just Japan’s low birth rate. “Fewer women want a natural birth today,” she says ruefully. “They go with doctors in hospitals rather than with midwives in birth houses.”
The culture of maternity in Japan is slowly becoming more like the rest of the rich world, but several practices differ. Women are generally treated as fragile during their pregnancy. But during labour itself they are expected to suffer. Painkillers are doled out sparingly, if at all. Doctors say growing numbers of women are keen to have an epidural (an anaesthetic injected into the spine), but few obstetric centres, hospitals included, offer them, and almost never outside normal working hours. The payment of ¥420,000 ($4,053) that the national health-insurance scheme makes towards the cost of having a baby would not typically cover one, anyway.
For most women, however,...Continue reading
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