It’s a boy for first Japan Cabinet member on paternity leave

TOKYO: Japan’s environment minister became father to a boy and is going ahead with his planned paternity leave – still a rarity in Japan where men are under pressure to put work before family.

Shinjiro Koizumi said his wife, former newscaster Christel Takigawa, gave birth to their first child late Thursday, just two days after he announced he was taking two weeks off over the next three months.