Wasn't sure if this had been posted.... I thought it was interesting and sad.  
Does anyone know if Japan's LCA has placed a statement out regarding this?


Japan scraps plan to urge breast-feeding  
  
Associated Press 
Last updated: 2:13 p.m., Friday, May 11, 2007 
 
TOKYO -- A Japanese proposal to urge mothers to breast-feed their babies 
and sing lullabies to children was scrapped after critics warned it was too 
intrusive, a news report said.
The proposal, which would also have recommended parents limit their 
children's television viewing and promote age-appropriate morals, was to have 
been announced Friday by an education reform panel named by the 
government.

But experts and some government officials said the measure was "beyond 
intrusive," and interfered in people's private lives, Kyodo News agency said 
Thursday, citing unnamed individuals close to the panel.

Japanese breastfeeding rates are much lower than those in other developed 
countries, according to various studies cited in a 2006 article in the 
International Breastfeeding Journal.

The comparitive studies said in 2000 the full breastfeeding rate in Japan for 
infants aged 1 to 2 months was 44.8 percent compared to the U.S. rate of 
54.7 percent at 1 month and and Sweden at 80.2 percent at 2 months.

Another study of infants aged 3 to 6 months in Nishinomiya City, Japan, found 
that 43.8 percent of infants were fed breast milk only. These breast-feeding 
rates still remain lower than the U.S with 47 percent breastfed at 3 months.

Education reform has been a key party of conservative Prime Minister Shinzo 
Abe's agenda since he took office in September.

In December, Parliament passed a reform measure that called on schools 
to "to cultivate an attitude that respects tradition and culture, that loves the 
nation and home country."

The legislation reflected concerns voiced by Abe that Japan's long stretch of 
economic prosperity has eroded the morals and cooperative spirit of prewar 
Japanese.

Concerns have also been rife about Japan's falling birth rate. Earlier this 
month, the government said that Japan's child population has fallen to a 
record low since the end of World War II.

To encourage more couples to have children, Abe's government has adopted 
plans for increasing child care, promoting gender equality and encouraging 
companies to allow staff more time for family responsibilities. But many opt to 
have few or no children because of the high cost of raising them and the 
persisting social expectations for women to quit their jobs after giving birth. 

Copyright 2007 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be 
published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

 

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