The implication was that these ‘heroes’ were not just protecting their family by nurturing the next generation of workers, they were helping to save the country. Unlike previous campaigns to increase paternal engagement, the Ikumen Project painted the father as a heroic figure, emphasising his masculinity and sexual allure one of its posters depicted one man tearing off his suit and shirt, Superman-like, to reveal the project’s logo on a t-shirt underneath, with the slogan “Ikumen strength for society”. It provided symposia and workshops, and fathers were also given the ‘Work-life Balance Handbook’ to help them juggle the competing demands of the office and the home. The government’s Ikumen Project was meant to remedy this situation, generating “a societal movement whereby men are able to become proactively involved in childcare”. One survey, from 2008, reported that a third of men would have preferred to spend more time with their children – but they worried that their bosses would disapprove of the time taken off work. In 2002, for instance, just 0.33% of eligible men took the paternity leave after the birth of a child. The 1980s also saw a rise in child suicides, which some linked to the lack of paternal support.Įven so, change was slow. The result was that they started marrying later, or not at all – contributing to the now infamous dip in Japan’s birth rate. They made it much harder for women to maintain a career after childbirth, for instance, leading many to become increasingly disenchanted with the concept of marriage. Needless to say, these attitudes had some serious repercussions. When the father did interact with his children, he was often remote and commanded respect, even fear – a fact reflected in the common saying “jishin, kaminari, kaji, oyaji” – “ earthquake, thunder, fire and father”. According to one observational study, some men could not even make tea or locate their own clothes without their wife’s assistance. But even in the 1980s the average man spent fewer than 40 minutes interacting with their children on the average workday – and that was often during a family meal. Japan, of course, was not alone in these views. “Utter commitment to one’s work represented the apotheosis of manliness”, writes Hannah Vassallo, who recently published an anthropological study of Japanese fathers for a book, Cool Japanese Men.

These ‘salarymen’ were devoted to their company, working long hours to climb the corporate ladder and provide financial security to the family. In years gone by, the Japanese father’s primary role was considered to be that of the bread winner.

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Inemuri: The Japanese art of (not) sleeping.But does this trend really represent significant progress in gender equality? Or do the glossy photoshoots simply add a sparkle and sheen to a superficial change in attitudes, while women still shoulder most of the family responsibilities? The idea soon caught on, and today ikumen can be seen throughout Japanese popular culture. The term was first devised by an ad salesman in the 2000s, and in 2010 the Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare launched the national Ikumen Project to promulgate the idea as a way of encouraging greater paternal involvement in family life. These are the ikumen: a combination of the word ikuji (childcare) and ikemen (hunk) – a stark contrast to the older stereotypes of the remote, workaholic father. They are sympathetic and understanding, and they will happily do the cooking and housework. The father and child may even be dressed in stylish matching outfits. They are smiling and handsome as they play swordfight over breakfast or take a bike ride together in the park. Cast your eyes over a Japanese newspaper, fashion magazine or manga story and you may find a new kind of ‘superhero’.

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