Changing Family Structure in Japan

Japanese children grow up believing that it is a tremendous honor to spend time with their grandparents and that “Age is wisdom”

People in Japan generally believe that it is shameful to abandon one’s parents in a nursing home. (added info, don’t know if you want to use it but anyway… officials tell stories of people in rural areas who continue to hang out their parent’s laundry long after they have gone to a nursing home just so that their neighbors won’t think they have abandoned th

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They realize that because times are changing, they will not be able to count on their children to take care of them when they get older. )

The eldest male (grandfather) is the head of the household, but at the age of 60 he becomes “go inkyo” or “retired master”. They are focusing on their careers and putting money into their pension plans and planning to be independent when they retire.

Women are increasingly expecting their husbands to take on more household responsibilities.

Other women are putting off having children because even though the Child and Family Leave Law allows them to take a leave of absence from work to take care of a child, their husband, or husband’s parents they fear a loss in status or position. eir parents)

Traditional Multigenerational Family Structure or “Ie”:

Aging parents typically choose to live with an elder son and his wife (this is because traditionally only the eldest son inherited. MAJOR STRESS!!

Many young women are now choosing not to marry because they don’t want to be put in this difficult position. One side effect of this is an increase in the number of divorces. They are standing up to their husbands and letting them know that they do not want to be put in this position of having to take care of their family as well as his aging parents.

The MAJOR side effect is that elderly people are increasingly living on their own without anyone to care for them!!! This places a burden on the government who can no longer count on the traditional family structure as a means to take care of the aging population!!!

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Eldest son spends his time working and his wife is responsible for taking care of their husbands needs, HIS parents, and their children… as well as all the housework!!!

Changing Family Structure:

The family structure is changing in Japan. Eldest female (grandmother) is the “obason” and has authority over the daughter-in-law. More women are working full-time and have their own careers to worry about and taking care of aging parents on top of their own families has become an enormous burden.

Common topics in this essay:
Leave Law, Ie Aging, People Japan, MAJOR STRESS, Family Structure, Socialization Japanese, Piety Belief, family structure, aging parents, husbands parents, taking care, ones parents, nursing home, eldest son, care aging,

Approximate Word count = 473
Approximate Pages = 2 (250 words per page double spaced)

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