Analysis of Changing Attitudes Toward Marriage and Family in Japan

This essay analyzes the evolving attitudes towards marriage and family among Japanese youth. It explores the increasing trend of young people delaying or foregoing marriage, examining the factors contributing to this shift. The research delves into the impact of employment status, gender roles, and societal values on individual choices. The study highlights concerns about declining birth rates, the challenges faced by the elderly, and the implications for policy development. The author utilizes scholarly articles to analyze the current situation, revealing that the desire for personal freedom, financial stability, and changing gender dynamics play a significant role in these evolving social attitudes. The essay concludes by emphasizing the need for policy makers to address gender inequality and improve working conditions to encourage marriage and family formation among the Japanese youth.

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Japanese Social Attitudes
Student’s name
Professor’s name
Course
Date
Attitude towards Marriage and Family among Japanese Youth
Over the years, attitudes towards marriage and family life are changing. This is
because many young people are opting to stay single or to wait for a longer period without
getting married. This trend has been so pronounced in the Western nations compared to those
other nations from other continents such as Africa and Asia. Young people had been found to
be waiting for longer periods before they have children as compared to previous years when
marriage was one of the respected social institutions in a society.
However, Asia and to be more specific, Japan has not been left behind in this changing
scenario. This is despite the fact that East Asia is characterized by having dominant cultural
values. It is important to note that these changing views on marriage have long lasting
implications especially for policy building by governments (Wesley). This is because it
severely affects sectors such as health, family planning, labor of the workforce, and support
systems for the elderly. Postponement of marriage is one of the factors that lowers the birth
rates to worrying levels, which raises a lot of concern over the size of the future workforce.
Childcare is one of the areas that are affected by delaying of the marriage period. This is

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because most of the married women are forced to remain in their employment areas due to
their economic needs. Policy makers have also raised a lot of concern over the number of
people who are growing old without anyone to take care of them. This means that these
people will have little financial support at their old age since they will not be having any
children or grandchildren to support them (Wesley).
Objectives
The aim of research is to define the age at which young people in Japan are getting
married, as well as, the age at which they have children. The paper will also look at the beliefs
that the Japanese society has towards Family and marriage. It will also look at the reasons that
these attitudes are changing at a very fast rate in recent years
Methods
In order to come up with a comprehensive paper and a paper that has looked at all
areas of the topic, I looked at scholarly articles on the topic and did a critical analysis on
them. This is to help in understanding the biasness that an author may have had, which could
have forced him or her to make his conclusion towards one side of the story. After looking at
these journals, I collected the data and analyzed it to fit in the domains of the paper.
Findings
Research has found that there is an increase in the number of people who are single at
their early 20’s. Projections indicate this trend has been on the increase since 1950. This has
been increased by the fact that there is a large number of young people who are getting

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enrolled in colleges and universities. Women have been found to get married at the age of
27.6 years and men at an average age of 30.6 years. It has also been found that many people
are continuously waiting for the right partner for marriage, which may take a lot of time
before it actually happens. For this reason, the age at which majority of the Japanese Youths
are getting married has been on the rise each year. It has also been found through research the
number of people who wish to get married within the shortest time possible has been
decreasing in recent years (Research).
Employment status for men also plays a very big role in defining the attitude that an
individual has towards marriage and the whole institution of the family. Research has
indicated that men who are self-employed, those who work in family businesses and those
who have permanent jobs have a higher percentage of desire to get married sooner that those
who are part timers and those who have temporary employments. It is interesting to note that
these differences are not found among women. However, female students have a lower
percentage of desire to get married within a year compared to women who are found in other
employment areas (Fuwa).
Employment also plays a very great role in defining the views that men have on
whether or not it is beneficial to get married. Fulltime employees tend to see and recognize
the merits of getting married more than people who are in part time jobs. Despite these
differences in terms of employment, it has become apparent there is a rise in the desire to
have one’s children and family among young people. This is because many people believe
that having your own children and family is one of the merits of marriage (Fuwa).

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Most of the researches conducted believe or have found that people especially the
youth in Japan believe that the most attractive part in the whole subject of being single is
freedom. Many fear that they may not be able to maintain their daily rhythm, their leisure
time, and their financial freedom once they are married. Around 30 percent of women fear
that they will not be able to work or study once they get married. This has brought the notion
that they will not have any control over their lives especially when children arrive. Many of
those who are single believe that they need to have a strong financial base in order to have a
family (Kaneko and Sasai).
Reasons for not getting married
Research has argued that people lack motivation to get married is one of the reasons
as to why people are not getting married or are delaying their marriage periods. It was also
made clear that many people beyond the age of 25 years are not able to get suitable partners.
Many of them do not see the necessity of getting married while others do not want to lose
their freedom or comfort. Women in Japan tend to think that marriage is more important for
men than it is for women. It is for this reason that most of them are not finding any reason to
get married. It is important to note that, despite the revolution that has taken part in women
education, marriage institution has remained unchanged, which has been one of the challenges
faced by society in dealing with the subject matter. For example, women are taking more time
in school than they used to do in previous years, which means that the number of children per
family in Japan is below the expectations of the policy makers (Population).
Evaluation of previous research

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Previous research has failed in looking at some of the social implications that are
brought by changing attitudes towards marriage and family. Although little progress has been
achieved in explaining these social implications, more needs to be done to ensure that
societies understand the consequences of this change. There is also need for research on what
needs to be done to make sure that these worrying trends are reduced by a considerable
percentage among the youth living in Japan. This will ensure that time is saved during the
making of policies especially those policies that are related to population of the country.
Conclusion
From the above discussion, it is clear that young people are less likely to express any
positive attitudes towards the family as an institution, marriage, and the traditional views
especially those to do with gender roles. If nothing is done about this, these trends will
continue in the future, which means that the country might end up experiencing some severe
social implications such as lack of the much-needed workforce. Many authors have in recent
years argued that these trends can change if men and women achieve full equality in the
family. This means that women will continue to have a negative attitude towards marriage as
long as there is gender disparity in the way family roles are conducted. This shows that gender
equality is one of the things that policy makers should focus on in order to bring an end to the
negative attitudes by the youth on marriage and family as a whole. Policy makers should also
focus on ensuring that better working conditions are provided to married women. This may
involve making sure that part time options are given to these women in order to ensure that
they may see the necessity of getting married and starting a family.

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Works Cited
Fuwa, Makiko . "Work family-conflict nad attitude towards marriage." Journal of Fmily Issues
(2013): 1-25. pdf.
Kaneko, Ryuichi and Tsukasa Sasai. "Attitudes towards Family and marriage among Japanese
sinles." The Japanese Journal of Population, (2008): 1-25. pdf.
Populati, National Institute of. "Attitudes toward Marriage and the Family among the." The
Eleventh Japanese National Fertility Survey in 1997 (1998): 1-29. pdf.
Research, National Institute of Population and Social Security. "Attitudes toward Marriage and
Family among Japanese Singles." The Fourteenth Japanese National Fertility Survey in
2010 (2011): 1-39. pdf.
Wesley, Sidney B. "What is Happening to Marriage in East Asia." Asia Pacific Population and
Policy (1998): 1-29. pdf.