Changes in Work and Family Life in Japan Under COVID-19

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.

Shigeki Matsuda (Ph.D.) is a professor of Chukyo University in Aichi prefecture. After receiving a doctorate in sociology from Keio University in Japan, he worked for a private think tank and currently teaching at Chukyo University. His is a researcher focuses on low fertility, family, and employment; a prominent researcher on low fertility in Japan. He has published many volumes of books in Japanese and English: Major publications are Low Fertility in Advanced Asian Economies: Focusing on Families, Education, and Labor Markets (2020, Ed, Springer), Low Fertility in Japan, South Korea, and Singapore: Population. Policies and Their Effectiveness (2020, Ed, Springer), The theory of declining birth rate (2013, Keiso Shobo, in Japanese), and The theory of declining birth rate [sequel] (2021, Gakubunsha, in Japanese). He has served as a board member of the Population Association of Japan and Japan Society of Family Sociology. To date, he has served as a member of many meetings set up byJapanese government, including meetings held by Minister of State for the Declining Birthrate of the Cabinet Office and the central government office, which are involved in policy making against the declining birthrate in Japan.

 

Hirohisa Takenoshita (MA) is a professor of sociology in the department of political science in Keio University. In his previous appointment, he was an associate professor in Shizuoka University, and was a professor in Sophia University. He has published several artcles in international journals and book chapters in edited volumes. His publications include: Gender inequality in access to managerial positions in Japan from a cross-national comparative perspective: The role of labor markets and welfare states. Japan Labor Issues 6(1/2): 25-39 (Co-authored with Kota Tagami). The Gender Wage Gap in Four Asian Countries: Japan, Singapore, South Korea, and Taiwan. In: Matsuda S. (eds) Low Fertility in Advanced Asian Economies. SpringerBriefs in Population Studies. Singapore: Springer: 41-59. The Recent Economic Crisis and Unemployment of Immigrants in Japan. Journal of International Migration and Integration 18: 563-585. Social Capital and Mental Health among Brazilian Immigrants in Japan. International Journal of Japanese Sociology 24: 48-64. He serves as an editor-in-chief in Sociological Theory and Methods, an official journal of Japanese Association for Mathematical Sociology.