Marriage in Japan; Does It Change?

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In Japan, getting married is one of big events in one’s life and many young people hope to get married and family with someone in their future. These days, various types of marriage life is existed, but stereotypical image of household, men work outside to feed their family and women take care of household, is still alive within Japanese people. To examine concept of Japanese marriage, I want to discuss about main characteristics of gender system of Japan in marital life and institution of marriage in Japan.
In Japanese marriage and conjugal roles, I think that many people still believed that “men work outside of home and women do house work and child caring” is ideal gender system in the household. Indeed, it is reasonable for the couples that men work outside in terms of incomes because it is shown that women’s average income are 60 percent of men’s earning even though gender discrimination in workplace is prohibited by law (Ishii-Kuntz 2003: 211). I think why do many people still thinks that “men work outside and women do house work” is because the couples who think to get marriage is the age that see the typical Japanese household in their childhood. Recently, many women are working as a full-time worker even after they get married, but when it compared with about 30 years ago, that was the era of their parents of the couple are get married, majority of people might have thought it is natural and ideal that men work outside and women should become housewife when couples get married. They see their parents and get some influence from their parents who think that way. There are many women who decide to live differently from their mother by pursuing their own career or their dream besides getting marriage like who are shown in “...

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...eople are unwilling to change their accustomed way of idea or life that are naturally taught and generated from previous generation. There are some people who think the old way of thinking should be changed due to adjust globalized world, but the majority of people who lead this country, I mean politicians or governors, are the people who are deeply trapped by these conventional ideas.
I have been thinking that I want to get married with someone in someday, but it is really vague, and I found some negative aspect of marriage in terms of gender role in marital life. It is very valuable opportunity to think my future life more seriously and positively than before, even though it is not realistic for me now as a university student. I hope that Japanese society or systems that related with marriage will be changed so that I can my marriage positively in the future.

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