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The Proportion of Children

This poem begins with the declining proportion of children in Japan and critically examines the social indifference and structural issues behind it. It sheds light on the hidden realities beneath the statistics—child poverty and a narrowing future—and questions who bears responsibility. The poem is driven by a quiet anger and a strong moral awareness, challenging readers to confront the consequences of inaction.

“ The Proportion of Children”

The proportion of children is 10.8 percent.
A decline that simply will not stop.
There are almost no effective measures left.
The young, once a source of hope,
are losing the desire to marry.
Regional economies weaken, vitality fades—
the signs are unmistakable.
An untenable reality
is left unattended.

The reality of child poverty
cannot be overlooked.
Even first graders with backpacks
are forced to face it.
It is always the vulnerable
who become society’s victims.
Those who calmly seal off
an inviolable future.
Those who, in the shadows,
greedily consume vested interests.
Those who shift responsibility
onto children and their parents,
indifferent to it all.
Those burdened with suffering,
denied even the meaning of living.
Those who force resignation—
“it can’t be helped”—
and smile in their pettiness.

They endure
the merciless treatment of society.
They confront
its cold prejudices.
They stand firm
against widening inequality.
They fix a steady gaze
on a society that breaks its promises.

Can a society of empty, future-oriented rhetoric
truly save these children?
Can it resist
an atmosphere that dismisses it all as someone else’s problem?
Reduced to mere numbers—“the proportion of children”—
their true lives disappear
into abstraction.

Written on May 6, 2026. Realizing the shallowness of numbers produced by ineffective political, economic, and social inaction.

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