Japan's new first lady speaks out on infertility

TOKYO, Oct 12 (Reuters) An avowed champion of family values faced with the twin woes of a sliding birth rate and an ageing population, Japan's new Prime Minister Shinzo Abe might seem almost negligent in having no children of his own.

Now his wife Akie, 44, has cleared up the mystery by speaking to a monthly magazine about her fertility treatment and how her husband, who took office last month, had suggested they consider adoption.

''Rather than have people speculate about it, I thought I should explain in my own words,'' Akie said in the Bungei Shunju magazine.

The couple married in 1987, when Akie, who comes from a wealthy candy manufacturing family, was 25 and her husband 32.

''Of course, as the wife of a politician, I was under enormous pressure, including from his constituency,'' Akie wrote. ''Now that it has become difficult because of my age, people have stopped telling me to keep trying. But in the very early stages I did have fertility treatment.'' Japan's fertility rate -- the average number of children a woman bears in her lifetime -- fell to an all-time low of 1.25 in 2005, the same year that its ratio of elderly people to total population became the world's highest.

Demographic changes have aroused concerns for future growth in the world's second-largest economy, as well as for the sustainability of its pension system.

Media reports have said Japan would consider subsidising fertility treatments as one way of boosting the number of babies.

At present, infertile couples face fees of around 300,000 yen ( TOKYO, Oct 12 (Reuters) An avowed champion of family values faced with the twin woes of a sliding birth rate and an ageing population, Japan's new Prime Minister Shinzo Abe might seem almost negligent in having no children of his own.

Now his wife Akie, 44, has cleared up the mystery by speaking to a monthly magazine about her fertility treatment and how her husband, who took office last month, had suggested they consider adoption.

''Rather than have people speculate about it, I thought I should explain in my own words,'' Akie said in the Bungei Shunju magazine.

The couple married in 1987, when Akie, who comes from a wealthy candy manufacturing family, was 25 and her husband 32.

''Of course, as the wife of a politician, I was under enormous pressure, including from his constituency,'' Akie wrote. ''Now that it has become difficult because of my age, people have stopped telling me to keep trying. But in the very early stages I did have fertility treatment.'' Japan's fertility rate -- the average number of children a woman bears in her lifetime -- fell to an all-time low of 1.25 in 2005, the same year that its ratio of elderly people to total population became the world's highest.

Demographic changes have aroused concerns for future growth in the world's second-largest economy, as well as for the sustainability of its pension system.

Media reports have said Japan would consider subsidising fertility treatments as one way of boosting the number of babies.

At present, infertile couples face fees of around 300,000 yen ($2,500) per attempt for in vitro fertilisation.

Akie's husband, who often speaks of the need to promote family values and to create a society where it is easy to raise children, suggested they try another option -- adoption.

''He said that it could be one solution to the low birth rate problem and that we should go ahead and try it for ourselves,'' Akie said.

''I could not accept this and was not confident about bringing up an adoptee properly, so it did not happen,'' she added.

Adoption within an extended family is a tradition in Japan -- indeed, Abe's brother was adopted by his grandparents' family -- but adoption of a non-relative is highly unusual.

Akie, a stylish former DJ and fan of South Korea's romantic television dramas, played down the sadness of her situation.

''I think it is all fate and I have to accept it -- the fact that I married a politician, that he became prime minister and that we were not blessed with children,'' she said, adding that she had found plenty of absorbing ways to spend her time.

''I tell myself that it is my task in life to be of service in some other way, instead of bringing up children,'' she said.

REUTERS BD1252 ,500) per attempt for in vitro fertilisation.

Akie's husband, who often speaks of the need to promote family values and to create a society where it is easy to raise children, suggested they try another option -- adoption.

''He said that it could be one solution to the low birth rate problem and that we should go ahead and try it for ourselves,'' Akie said.

''I could not accept this and was not confident about bringing up an adoptee properly, so it did not happen,'' she added.

Adoption within an extended family is a tradition in Japan -- indeed, Abe's brother was adopted by his grandparents' family -- but adoption of a non-relative is highly unusual.

Akie, a stylish former DJ and fan of South Korea's romantic television dramas, played down the sadness of her situation.

''I think it is all fate and I have to accept it -- the fact that I married a politician, that he became prime minister and that we were not blessed with children,'' she said, adding that she had found plenty of absorbing ways to spend her time.

''I tell myself that it is my task in life to be of service in some other way, instead of bringing up children,'' she said.

REUTERS BD1252