TsukuBlog

It is easy to give up your seat on the train when you see someone who is elderly or has a clear physical disability. However, it can be difficult to tell when someone is pregnant. In order to help pregnant women get the special consideration they deserve on trains and other public places, the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare has created a “maternity mark”, a kind of sticker or badge that pregnant women can put on their purses or key chains.

If you see a woman displaying this symbol, please refrain from smoking and treat her with special consideration, if the situation calls for it.

I think that women who are pregnant will receive some “maternity mark” goods when they receive their “Mother and Child Health Handbook”, but I am not sure. Can anyone else confirm this? I know that they were handing out badges with this symbol at some train stations when they first came out (in the summer of 2006), but I don’t think they are doing that anymore. Can anyone tell us where to get maternity mark goods in Tsukuba?

I think this is a good idea, in principle, but I am not sure how many women will actually display the sign when they are pregnant. It seems like an invasion of privacy, in an especially private country. It also seems kind of embarrassing to walk around with a badge that says “there is a baby in my belly”. Then again, I would never wear one of those surgical masks in public, but people do it here all the time. So, I guess if women start using the sign, it will become more acceptable, and they will feel more comfortable using it.

Being A Broad (BAB) is “a support and information network for foreign women living in Japan. Established by Caroline Pover in 1997, Being A Broad has supported thousands of women during their lives overseas, through a magazine, a best-selling book, events, seminars, speeches, and the BAB website.”

The BAB discussion forum has recently been updated and Caroline has offered to give free subscriptions to “Being a Broad Magazine” to people who post more than 50 times in the new forum. I’m not sure when the contest will end, but if you are a foreign woman in Japan, you will likely find the forum useful even if you don’t win anything!

Right now it seems that there aren’t many members from Tsukuba. If you do decide to join the forum, please introduce yourself in the “In Tsukuba” thread so we can find each other. (You can also send me a private message or an email through the forum to let me know that you have joined.)