1860529674     

Changes in Work and Family Life in Japan Under COVID-19 / edited by Shigeki Matsuda, Hirohisa Takenoshita

Matsuda, Shigeki [Herausgeberin/-geber] ; Takenoshita, Hirohisa [Herausgeberin/-geber]

1st ed. 2023.

Singapore : Springer Nature Singapore [2023.] ; Singapore : Imprint: Springer [2023.], 2023

1 Online-Ressource(VII, 113 p. 32 illus., 6 illus. in color.)

Englisch

Erscheint auch als: (Druck-Ausgabe)

Erscheint auch als: (Druck-Ausgabe)

978-981-99-5850-4

978-981-99-5849-8 (ISBN der Printausgabe); 978-981-99-5851-1 (ISBN der Printausgabe)

Elektronische Ressource: Zugang über Resolving-System (Lizenzangabe: Lizenzpflichtig)

Digital Object Identifier (DOI): 10.1007/978-981-99-5850-4

305.2 ; 306.87     Ähnliche Literatur

bicssc: JHBK ; bisacsh: SOC026010

LOC-SH: Sociology. ; Social groups. ; Industrial sociology. ; Demography. ; Population.

1．Introduction (Shigeki Matsuda) -- -2. Who can become a teleworker during the COVID-19 pandemic? The inequality structure and access to telework in Japan (Jae-Youl Shin, Hirohisa Takenoshita) -- 3. The Division of Domestic Labor During the Early Stage of the COVID-19 Pandemic in Japan (Junko Nishimura, Jihey Bae, Kota Toma) -- 4. Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on family formation in Japan (Ling Sze Nancy Leung, Takayuki Sasaki, Shigeki Matsuda) -- 5. Conclusion (Hirohisa Takenoshita).

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This book describes how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected the way of work, the division of household labor, and family formation in Japan. One of the characteristics of Japanese employment practices is a stable employer–employment relationship and seniority-based wage system. In return, long working hours, especially for men who are called “salarymen” (salaried workers, or “company men”), are required. The pandemic has led to an expansion of telework and has reduced their working hours, which has made them return to their homes to work. In contrast, non-regular employees, who are mostly women, has become more unstable in employment and their incomes fell. This tendency has become even stronger under the pandemic. Compared with conditions in Western countries, in Japan wives have a greater responsibility for domestic chores. In the pandemic, as children's classes shifted to online and childcare support facilities were temporarily closed, the burden of housework and child-rearing increased for wives. However, husbands who worked from home shared a part of the housework, and popular home delivery services helped to reduce the burdens on wives. Japan is one of the developed countries with low fertility rates. Under the pandemic, many Japanese postponed starting a family, which further shrank the country’s birthrate. There was a remarkably significant tendency to postpone having children among economically disadvantaged and socially isolated families. This book provides a portrait of Japan’s experience regarding the notable impacts of the pandemic on work and family life.