Japan's Social Woes and How This Affects Japanese Women

The country I focus on for most of my research is Japan, especially Japan in the postwar era.  Zhou’s post reminded me that Japan faces its own economic and social issues due to its declining population.  Japan’s current prime minister, Shinzo Abe, has gotten a lot of attention recently for his proposed economic plan nicknamed Abenomics. One of the provisions of this plan is to improve the conditions for women in Japan.

Despite being categorized as an affluent developed nation with the third largest economy in the world, Japan is also known for ranking rather low in terms of gender equality. Nobue Suzuki mentions here how Japan’s ranking in the women’s gender empowerment index has been dropping.

In addition to that, Japan has been dealing with a declining birth rate since the 1970s. The birth rate has dropped well below the amount required to replenish the population. Since immigration is also limited, the population has been dropping slightly since 2005.

The current prime minister’s plan to provide more support to women seems to fall short for the most part.  As this article points out, providing more day care options for mothers only addresses part of the problem. Abe’s vision for women in Japan seems to ignore key cultural factors that have contributed to the continued marginalization of women in Japanese society.

While my research for this course has focused on Filipina migrants in Japan who have a long history with working in bars as hostesses as well as the sex trade, I’ve found that hostess bars underwent a revival around 2009. In 2005, Japanese government passed a law in 2005 to cut down on the kind of short term visas that were used to bring Filipinas into the country to work as hostesses.  I was surprised to find that there was a resurgence in interest among young Japanese women in becoming hostesses.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/28/business/global/28hostess.html?pagewanted=1&_r=0

This New York Times article points out how the resurgence in interest in becoming a hostess is partly due to Japan’s economic troubles.  I was surprised to read that even before the economic downturn a few years ago, women in Japan faced such dismal job prospects.  I’ve always been surprised and dismayed at how much Japan is touted as an advanced nation despite the status of women within its borders.  I think this is one reason that economic indicators should not be relied on so heavily to judge a nation’s level of “advancement.”  I’m interested to see what Japan’s government will do in the future regarding its social issues and whether or not Japanese society will change in respect to how women's roles are viewed.