Currently, the grant is only offered to newly married couples in which both husband and wife are 34 or younger, and who have a combined household income of 4.8 million yen or less. From next year, though, couples can be as old as 39 and have a combined income of up to 5.4 million yen, and still be eligible for the grant. While getting married and having a child aren’t one and the same, in Japan single parenthood is still comparatively rare, and almost always unplanned.

With marriage generally seen by couples as a prerequisite for starting a family, there’s some logic in making it economically easier for couples to get hitched. The new program is expected to start at the beginning of the next fiscal year in April.

Source: Japan Today