Abstract

Sweden: A country Japanese people who find it difficult to work and raise children should know about.
"Is it really possible to balance work and child-rearing?" Sweden offers clues to answering this question. While Sweden is now known as a child-rearing-friendly country, 30 years ago, while systems for working while raising children were in place, the gendered division of labor, where "men work and women raise children," remained deeply rooted. This situation may have some similarities to Japan today. In this book, a Japanese data scientist who has lived in Sweden for 25 years explains the process of Swedish society's transformation and the current dual-income parenting style among Swedish people, drawing on his own parenting experiences. The book is peppered with clues for Japanese people to raise children in a dual-income household without overexerting themselves.

Author’s Information

Born in Yonago, Tottori Prefecture, in 1978. While enrolled in the Faculty of Economics at Kyoto University, he traveled to Sweden in 2000 as an exchange student to study at Uppsala University. He subsequently earned a Master's degree in Economics from Jönköping University and a PhD from the University of Gothenburg. He also served as a postdoctoral researcher at the European Institute of Japanese Studies at the Stockholm School of Economics. Since 2018, he has worked as a data scientist at Combient MIX, a Swedish AI consulting company (later acquired by Finland's Silo AI and later acquired by US semiconductor giant AMD). During his time there, he worked as an external consultant on the development and practical application of AI models for Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) and SEB, a major Swedish private bank. In June 2025, he transferred to SEB, where he currently serves as a senior data scientist. He and his Japanese partner, whom he met in Sweden, are working together and raising two children. He is a co-author of "The Swedish Paradox" (Nihon Keizai Shimbun Publishing), and has translated "The Sea of Silence" (Shinhyoron) and "How Sweden is Protecting Society from Radioactive Contamination" (Godo Publishing).