Japan govt eyes new budget account focused on childcare spending - media

Local children play on Japan's westernmost inhabited Yonaguni Island in Yonaguni, Okinawa prefecture, Japan, October 26, 2021. Picture taken October 26, 2021. REUTERS/Issei Kato/File Photo

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's government may set up a new budget account to manage spending linked to childcare funding reforms, the Nikkei business daily reported on Monday.

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has pledged to double childcare spending to reverse Japan's dwindling birthrate, by making it easier for a both married couple to work and the husband to take paternal leave so that they can share household chores more fairly.