TOKYO -- Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs has revised its family allowance system for staff at embassies and other diplomatic missions abroad, with new and expanded benefits for children's education and for employees posted abroad without their families.

The measure, which takes into consideration factors such as the rise in households where both parents are working, has been dubbed the "first fundamental revision in 40 years." However, staff say the "out-of-pocket hell" caused by high prices and the weak yen remains unchanged, and calls are already emerging for further expansion.

The Foreign Ministry has a fixed workforce of just under 7,000. More than half, or around 3,800 employees, work overseas. Many rotate between the ministry headquarters and overseas postings every few years.

When assigned overseas, even young staff members receive a tax-exempt "basic overseas service allowance" of at least 260,000 yen (about $1,650) a month, in addition to their regular salaries, as well as housing allowances. The amount varies widely by region and position. For that reason, Foreign Ministry employees are known as "high earners" among civil servants. Yet they say life overseas is not necessarily easy.

One reason for this is their children's education. In countries with wide disparities, tuition and other expenses tend to be high for families trying to secure education above a certain standard. Tuition fees for international schools in Europe and the United States can top 500,000 yen (about $3,170) per month, and inflation and other factors are increasing the financial burden.

Women now account for around 40% of the ministry's personnel, and dual-income households have become commonplace. With more families relying on child care facilities and babysitters, support for employees raising children had become an urgent issue.

A legal revision that took effect in April created a new "allowance for accompanying children." Previously, employees posted abroad with their families received a "spouse allowance" equivalent to 20% of their basic overseas service allowance, while receiving a "children's education allowance" of 8,000 yen (about $50) per month per child in principle.

Under the revised system, the spouse allowance was reduced to 13%. In its place, an accompanying child allowance equal to 8% of the basic overseas service allowance is now paid for each accompanying child, separately from the children's education allowance.

For a family with one child, the spouse and accompanying child allowances now total 21% of the basic allowance. For a family with two children, they total 29%. As a result, payments increase for all households with children.

In addition, the ministry has raised the upper limit of a special additional allowance for children aged 3 to 5 from 51,000 yen (about $320) to 93,000 yen (approximately $590) per month, to address rising kindergarten and other education costs.

Allowances were also expanded for personnel who choose to take up overseas assignments without their families because both spouses work or for other reasons. A new overseas unaccompanied-posting allowance of 65,000 yen (around $410) per month was introduced. Personnel who maintain a residence in Japan can also separately receive up to 14,000 yen (about $90) per month. A Foreign Ministry official commented, "Personnel working overseas are on the front lines of Japan's foreign policy. We want to do whatever we can to ease their burden."

Even so, few employees believe that out-of-pocket costs will disappear entirely, and employees often remain reluctant to accept overseas postings, with a constant stream leaving to take jobs in the private sector.

In recommendations compiled in September, the Foreign Service Personnel Committee, an advisory body to the foreign minister chaired by Mitsubishi Corp. senior corporate adviser Ken Kobayashi, said that staffing overseas diplomatic missions was "critically important," but that current salary and allowance levels "could not be considered adequate compared with those in other major countries." It warned that "education and child care costs have become a heavy burden and one of the major factors causing employees to avoid overseas service," and said "a fundamental expansion of support for children's education and child care is indispensable."

(Japanese original by Ryuko Tadokoro, Political News Department)