[ti:Australian Filmmaker Shows Japanese Single Mothers, Children Face Poverty]
[al:Arts and Culture]
[ar:VOA]
[dt:2024-02-02]
[by:www.voase.cn]
[00:00.00]In wealthy countries, like Japan, poverty is sometimes considered a taboo subject.
[00:10.09]But an Australian filmmaker, Rionne McAvoy, wants to share the stories of women and children in poverty in Japan in his documentary film The Ones Left Behind.
[00:25.82]The film was released last year. 
[00:29.42]It shows single mothers raising their children in poverty.
[00:34.94]The women work hard. 
[00:37.04]They sleep a few hours at night.
[00:40.26]And they try to balance working with childcare and housework.
[00:46.14]McAvoy said he wanted to deal with a topic that no one wanted to discuss.
[00:53.66]The film shows discussions with poor women and experts on poverty. 
[01:00.80]He said the film also shows a different side of Japanese society, where getting married and becoming a stay-at-home mother is normal for many women.
[01:14.92]"In Japan, it's very taboo. I think it's a very apt title because I feel that single mothers and their children have really been left behind in society."
[01:31.36]The film shows one woman who works almost twelve hours a day and earns less than $1,350 a month. 
[01:43.03]That amount is low for a county where the cost of living is high.
[01:49.00]Monthly rent for one small room can cost one third of that amount.
[01:55.41]Tomiko Nakayama is one of the women in the film.
[02:00.76]She said, "I have to do everything on my own." 
[02:05.33]Another woman almost cries when she describes how her child stopped asking her to come to "take-your-parent-to-school" days.
[02:15.36]Japan has one of the highest rates of childhood poverty although it is one of the wealthiest nations.
[02:27.77]One in seven children live in poverty in Japan. Almost half of single-parent homes are considered poor.
[02:39.51]Japanese society often favors men who work full-time. 
[02:46.03]Women sometimes receive lower pay and fewer benefits than their male counterparts, while working full-time and overtime.
[02:58.15]Ayuri McAvoy produced the film and is also McAvoy's wife.
[03:05.76]She was formerly a single mother. 
[03:09.39]But they say that is not why they made the film.
[03:14.91]Rionne McAvoy said that the country's traditional culture makes women accept their difficult lives and makes them ashamed to ask for help.
[03:27.53]He told the Associated Press that the women are "keeping their public face and private face separate."
[03:37.89]Akihiko Kato is a professor at Meiji University in Tokyo.
[03:45.12]He appears in the film.
[03:47.99]Kato said that Japan does not have a system to legally force fathers to pay for their children if the parents are separated. 
[04:00.08]The Japanese government has promised to give money to people with children, but this is slow to come, he said.
[04:09.86]Kato said that this is partly why birth rates in Japan have been so low.
[04:17.84]There were 1.2 million births in the year 2000 compared to fewer than 800,000 births in 2022.
[04:30.07]Some people believe the modern idea of the nuclear family means that single parents, mostly mothers, have to do everything on their own. 
[04:42.94]People like grandparents, neighbors and extended family members no longer seem to be able to help with children.
[04:54.73]Yanfei Zhou is a social science professor at Japan Women's University in Tokyo who also appears in the film. 
[05:05.81]She said that these changes have serious effects on children.
[05:11.84]The divide between rich and poor is growing, and children will end up in poverty, she said.
[05:22.28]The film won the Best Documentary prize at the Miyakojima Charity International Film Festival last year.
[05:31.36]It was also officially chosen for the Yokohama International Film Festival.
[05:38.25]McAvoy said he has long been interested in telling the story of those who society had forgotten and who do not have a voice.
[05:50.33]He said that being on the outside of Japanese culture has helped him to share stories with a new viewpoint and without bias. 
[06:02.19]He said his next film will be about young people dying by suicide in Japan.
[06:09.22]McAvoy said, "It's one thing we can do more of in society: to try recognize people's cries for help."
[06:18.95]I'm Faith Pirlo. And I'm Andrew Smith.