Culture shock: can trailblazing Japanese minister change minds on paternity leave?

Shinjiro Koizumi’s break from his job as Japan’s environment minister began on Friday when his wife, the TV personality Christel Takigawa, gave birth to the couple’s first child.

While the daytime TV shows cooed over the new addition to the celebrity couple’s family, his decision to become the first cabinet minister to take time away from work to be with his wife and son has raised hopes of change in a country where a tiny fraction of men exercise their right to paternity leave.

Japan’s leave provision , with new fathers permitted to spend up to a year off work, albeit on reduced