Assistant Professor Miki Nakata
・Laboratory of Plant Metabolic Regulation, Division of Biological Science (Demura Laboratory)
ＡＡ Ms. Hiroyo Aoki
I have used this system twice, once for three months during my pregnancy and again for 12 months from the time my child turned one year old until now. As my belly got bigger in the second half of my pregnancy, my physical strength changed and the strain on my body to do heavy work became greater, so I asked my assistant to take over the work on the Green Lab. With her help, we were able to install monitoring equipment during this time that allowed us to obtain both environmental data and the condition of the plants we were growing outdoors.
After returning from maternity leave, my husband, who is self-employed, took care of our child at home, but it was difficult to rely on relatives and the housework and childcare for both of us was more difficult than I had expected. My child was hospitalized, and my husband was sick at times, so my working hours were not as long as before the birth, and there were days when I could not come to work.
So when my child turned one, I reapplied for this program and started using it again. My assistant is responsible for taking care of the plants and helping with experiments. I currently have several projects going on at the same time, and I am able to keep them going with the help of my assistant.
This program has a budget of up to 1.2 million yen per year and can be used for a total of three years. However, if a woman uses the program during her pregnancy and resumes it immediately after returning to work after giving birth, she cannot use it for the full three years until her child reaches the age of three.
(March 2022)
