Having No Kids Is Huge Loss to Country? 子を持たぬは国家的損失？

Japanese follows English.　英語の後に日本語が続きます。

"A woman like you having no kids is a huge loss to Japan.” Two ladies said to Eri, a friend of mine, about twenty years ago. That day, she was waiting with them for a man at a coffee shop. It was a blind date set by them, i.e., her mother's friend and this friend's friend. The man was a doctor working for the World Health Organization and Eri had graduated from the University of Tokyo, one of the most prestigious universities in Japan. To these ladies, a doctor working for a global organization marrying with a woman with high IQ and having children was a wonderful idea to contribute to the country.

A few weeks later, Eri saw the doctor again at a restaurant. He had been quiet when they’d first met but later on asked her to see him again, this time, alone. On that day he started to talk immediately after sitting at the table about his plan. He wanted to have kids and in order to have healthy kids, a mother had to in their 20s because the 20s is the most fertile period. And for this reason, Eri had to marry him now because she was in her 30s. He was serious and almost convinced her.

Eri got married to another man later on and has no kids. She doesn’t know where he is now, but has been contributing to the country by paying tax without fail.

20年ほど前だろうか、友人のエリが見合いをした。母親の友人とその友人が世話をしてくれた見合いで、相手の男性は世界保健機関で働く医者。かたやエリは東京大学を卒業した才媛である。初めて会う日、喫茶店でその男性を待っていた時に二人のおばさまから出た言葉がこれです。

「あなたみたいな女性が子供を産まないなんて国家的損失だわ」

20年前ということを差っ引いても信じられない！ その日はおばさま二人がほとんどしゃべってしまったので、後日また会いたいという連絡が来て、今度は二人だけで会うことになったのだが、時間通りに待ち合わせ場所のレストランに来たその男性は席に着くなり、女性が子供を産むのに最も適した年齢は20代なので、エリはすぐにでも結婚しなければならないということをとうとうと語り始めた。本当の話です。彼はとても真面目でエリも危うく頷きそうになったとのことです。

そのエリ。今は別の男と結婚し、子供はいません。ちゃんと税金払っています。