Pregnancy Day

Today, and February 4th annually is Pregnancy Day (妊娠の日).  The date of this anniversary is another example of "goroawase" (see "West Day" also), where the reading of the numbers is changed to create a word. In this case "ninshin", 2＝にん / 4＝しん, 妊娠.

The anniversary was created by Junbie Co., Ltd., a company based in Ginza that supports women from pre‑pregnancy through postpartum created Pregnancy Day. The purpose of the day is to help women who hope to conceive envision a positive future and to support them in staying healthy and confident throughout pregnancy and after childbirth. 

I had five wonderful pregnancies in Japan. Unfortunately, I lost the fifth baby in the second trimester, but my experience of miscarriage in Japan was as good as it could be under the circumstances. In other words, I was very well looked after. You do hear some horror stories of pregnancy though, so what I always say is make sure you thoroughly research the maternity hospitals you are considering, before committing to one.