people, including mothers, feel powerless to change this system. As a result, there is a clear map pointing students to the right nursery school that leads to the right kindergarten, the best elementary school, junior high school, and high school, all of which may be associated with prestigious universities. To ensure these results, some parents have been known to commit unethical or illegal acts to promote their child's success. In one case, a restaurant owner paid a $95,000 bribe in an attempt to get his child enrolled in Aoyama Gakuin, a prestigious kindergarten for children who are three or four years old. Because of the kindergarten's affiliation with an elite university, parents are willing to go to extreme lengths to get their children enrolled. Aoyama Gakuin has room for 40 new students a year. Every year, it receives more than 2000 hopeful applicants. The tests the potential students take are known to be extremely difficult. The issue is compounded by the notion that most important job positions in business and government are held by graduates of the University of Tokyo. In addition, which university a student attends is believed to affect one's choices for a future spouse. Because a child's life appears to be determined by what schools he or she attends, many mothers take extraordinary measures to get children into good schools. Changing family structures The older generation of Japanese grew up in larger households than those normally found in Japan today. Back then, ikuji (, "child-raising") included a larger surrounding environment, made up of more relatives and extended family, and more children: siblings and cousins. Children who grew up in that time learned responsibilities through the care of younger siblings. These children relied on themselves in the outside world through much of their childhood lives. In those days, child-raising was more of a private matter, handled only by the child's surrounding family. In the 1970s, men's wages decreased and women left home earlier to find jobs. These women "considered themselves free" after the child's junior high education. The previous generation did not feel this until after the child had finished high school. In contemporary Japan, couples are having fewer children and teaching the children self-reliance. This involves consulting child-raising professionals. This new need in professional advice is commonly termed "child-raising neurosis" by professionals. Reliance on professionals has largely created a new generation of young mothers with low self-confidence