The Learner
A blog by Hailey Welch
Hi again, welcome back! As my curiosity grows, I find myself continuing to delve deeper
into the world of Japanese culture. More specifically their family structure, certain legalities,
children, and more! Please, dive in with me!
First and foremost, I needed to know what traditional family structure was like in Japan.
From my research in the Cultural Atlas, I learned that each household holds a patriarchal head,
who maintains authority and responsibility for each member of the family. Although the
patriarchal head can vary, the home itself is usually placed somewhere nearby the husband’s
extended family members. Now, something I found admirable, due to its organization, was
Japan’s koseki: “The koseki [Japan’s official family registry] requires all households to report the
details of their family members such as birthplace, date of birth, relocation of the family to
another municipality, marriages, divorces, acknowledgement of paternity of children, adoptions
and deaths.” No information can be lost because of this documentation. Since community and
respect is so big in Japan, everyone ensure’s their ‘role’ in the group is taken care of.
As far as children go, you can have as many as you want in Japan! Reproductive rights
are a sore subject. After reading The Diplomat, I learned that in Japan, insurance does not cover
birth control pills or the morning-after-pill. One of the major causes of these issues being
debated, is the fact that Japan's gender gap is so wide, ranging 116/156 worst out of all the
countries in the world, according to the World Economic Forum in 2023. So what happens if you
become pregnant accidentally, and want to terminate the pregnancy? Abortions are illegal,
without the consent of your spouse. Now, this only applies to married women, but has been used
as an umbrella rule by doctors. This led to the sentencing of a 21-year-old girl who couldn’t get
her partner's consent for an abortion and ended up abandoning her newborn. To receive an
abortion procedure, it averages at around $1500, almost three times as much as the United States.
However, having many children can be extremely costly. Because of the many
single-parent households, and the current ongoing recession, money has been tight for many. The
LA Times informed me of the government’s “child support allowance” which starts a little above
$300 a month for one child and raises little by little for each additional child. Because the
amount is not doubled for two children, tripled for three children, etc. money gets tight quickly,
as more kids means more money. It is said that it is shameful to be poor, and wives have to hide
it from their husbands if they are receiving charity. Children at school will make fun of other
children if they have a rip in their shirt, because it shows they are “poor’, and unable to buy new
clothes.
Over the past 10-15 years, Japan has seen a good chunk of migration, both in and out of
the country, as we learned thanks to data from the National Library of Medicine. Large factors of
the in-migration seem to be the job opportunities. Large cities, like Tokyo, have seen a huge
population spike because of the employment opportunities the city has to offer individuals. This
A blog by Hailey Welch
Hi again, welcome back! As my curiosity grows, I find myself continuing to delve deeper
into the world of Japanese culture. More specifically their family structure, certain legalities,
children, and more! Please, dive in with me!
First and foremost, I needed to know what traditional family structure was like in Japan.
From my research in the Cultural Atlas, I learned that each household holds a patriarchal head,
who maintains authority and responsibility for each member of the family. Although the
patriarchal head can vary, the home itself is usually placed somewhere nearby the husband’s
extended family members. Now, something I found admirable, due to its organization, was
Japan’s koseki: “The koseki [Japan’s official family registry] requires all households to report the
details of their family members such as birthplace, date of birth, relocation of the family to
another municipality, marriages, divorces, acknowledgement of paternity of children, adoptions
and deaths.” No information can be lost because of this documentation. Since community and
respect is so big in Japan, everyone ensure’s their ‘role’ in the group is taken care of.
As far as children go, you can have as many as you want in Japan! Reproductive rights
are a sore subject. After reading The Diplomat, I learned that in Japan, insurance does not cover
birth control pills or the morning-after-pill. One of the major causes of these issues being
debated, is the fact that Japan's gender gap is so wide, ranging 116/156 worst out of all the
countries in the world, according to the World Economic Forum in 2023. So what happens if you
become pregnant accidentally, and want to terminate the pregnancy? Abortions are illegal,
without the consent of your spouse. Now, this only applies to married women, but has been used
as an umbrella rule by doctors. This led to the sentencing of a 21-year-old girl who couldn’t get
her partner's consent for an abortion and ended up abandoning her newborn. To receive an
abortion procedure, it averages at around $1500, almost three times as much as the United States.
However, having many children can be extremely costly. Because of the many
single-parent households, and the current ongoing recession, money has been tight for many. The
LA Times informed me of the government’s “child support allowance” which starts a little above
$300 a month for one child and raises little by little for each additional child. Because the
amount is not doubled for two children, tripled for three children, etc. money gets tight quickly,
as more kids means more money. It is said that it is shameful to be poor, and wives have to hide
it from their husbands if they are receiving charity. Children at school will make fun of other
children if they have a rip in their shirt, because it shows they are “poor’, and unable to buy new
clothes.
Over the past 10-15 years, Japan has seen a good chunk of migration, both in and out of
the country, as we learned thanks to data from the National Library of Medicine. Large factors of
the in-migration seem to be the job opportunities. Large cities, like Tokyo, have seen a huge
population spike because of the employment opportunities the city has to offer individuals. This
