public and private sectors this year.

At present, up to a week of paid leave is provided for civil servants, with employment insurance partly making up for lost salary in the period taken thereafter.

Yoshiaki Wada, one of the LDP members who called for the initiative to promote paternity leave, said they aim to "destroy" a mindset in Japanese corporate culture that has long prevented male workers from taking childcare leave despite an increasing awareness among men of the need to take time off for family.

"Although about 80 percent of young male workers hope to take paternity leave, the rate of men taking such leave stands at 6 percent. We have to narrow that gap," said Wada, referring to a think tank survey on new recruits.

Dismissing the common belief thatthe conservative LDP is unlikely to push for paternity leave, Wada, 48, said even those aged nearly 70 are among the some 70 party lawmakers who have joined the campaign. Many of the older members support the initiative out of consideration for their grandchildren, he said.

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The House of Representatives member, who has a 5-year-old daughter, said the project team aims to achieve revision of the law on childcare leave in about 18 months so as to make it mandatory for companies to notify employees of