IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bpj/conjap/v23y2011i2p213-234n5.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

No chance for romance: Corporate culture, gendered work, and increased singlehood in Japan

Author

Listed:
  • Yoshida Akiko

    (Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of Wisconsin, Whitewater.)

Abstract

This paper is part of a larger study that investigates the cause of increased singlehood among women in Japan. On the basis of findings from qualitative research this paper argues that Japanese corporate practices and culture have severely limited women's opportunities for romantic encounters. In-depth, open-ended interviews were conducted in the Tokyo area with forty never-married and married women aged 25 to 46. The data were analyzed inductively. The findings reveal that long work hours for men, and in some cases for women, impeded opportunities for women to form romantic relationships in several ways: (i) men were seldom available; (ii) many married women expressed discontent with marriage due to the absence of husbands; many single women held ambivalent views toward marriage after having heard negative stories from married friends; (iii) some single women found it unappealing that corporate men could talk about nothing but work; and (iv) single women with careers regularly worked overtime and their devotion to work was regarded as “unfeminine”. Additionally, workplaces are often segregated by gender, further limiting opportunities for single women to meet potential partners. This paper sheds critical light on the culture and practices of Japanese corporations, arguing that such culture and practices create serious consequences for individuals' lives.

Suggested Citation

  • Yoshida Akiko, 2011. "No chance for romance: Corporate culture, gendered work, and increased singlehood in Japan," Contemporary Japan, De Gruyter, vol. 23(2), pages 213-234, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:bpj:conjap:v:23:y:2011:i:2:p:213-234:n:5
    DOI: 10.1515/cj.2011.011
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1515/cj.2011.011
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1515/cj.2011.011?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Gary S. Becker, 1981. "A Treatise on the Family," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number beck81-1.
    2. James Raymo, 2003. "Educational attainment and the transition to first marriage among Japanese women," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 40(1), pages 83-103, February.
    3. Valerie Oppenheimer & Matthijs Kalmijn & Nelson Lim, 1997. "Men’s career development and marriage timing during a period of rising inequality," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 34(3), pages 311-330, August.
    4. Robert D. Retherford & Naohiro Ogawa & Rikiya Matsukura, 2001. "Late Marriage and Less Marriage in Japan," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 27(1), pages 65-102, March.
    5. James Raymo & Miho Iwasawa & Larry Bumpass, 2009. "Cohabitation and family formation in Japan," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 46(4), pages 785-803, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Sam Hyun Yoo, 2016. "Postponement and recuperation in cohort marriage: The experience of South Korea," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 35(35), pages 1045-1078.
    2. Wei-hsin Yu & Yuko Hara, 2020. "Job characteristics, marital intentions, and partner-seeking actions: Longitudinal evidence from Japan," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 43(52), pages 1509-1544.
    3. James Raymo & Fumiya Uchikoshi & Shohei Yoda, 2021. "Marriage intentions, desires, and pathways to later and less marriage in Japan," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 44(3), pages 67-98.
    4. Wei-hsin Yu & Janet Chen-Lan Kuo, 2017. "Another work-family interface: Work characteristics and family intentions in Japan," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 36(13), pages 391-426.
    5. Julen Esteban‐Pretel & Junichi Fujimoto, 2022. "How do marital formation and dissolution differ across employment statuses? Analysis of Japanese non‐regular employees," Pacific Economic Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(5), pages 425-461, December.
    6. Felicia Tian, 2013. "Transition to First Marriage in Reform-Era Urban China: The Persistent Effect of Education in a Period of Rapid Social Change," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 32(4), pages 529-552, August.
    7. Setsuya Fukuda, 2013. "The Changing Role of Women’s Earnings in Marriage Formation in Japan," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 646(1), pages 107-128, March.
    8. James M. Raymo & Hyunjoon Park, 2020. "Marriage Decline in Korea: Changing Composition of the Domestic Marriage Market and Growth in International Marriage," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 57(1), pages 171-194, February.
    9. Wei-hsin Yu & Janet Chen-Lan Kuo, 2016. "Explaining the Effect of Parent-Child Coresidence on Marriage Formation: The Case of Japan," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 53(5), pages 1283-1318, October.
    10. Keuntae Kim, 2017. "The changing role of employment status in marriage formation among young Korean adults," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 36(5), pages 145-172.
    11. Carlos Brambila-Paz, 2017. "Households, Families and Prospective Economic Mobility in Mexico," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 38(4), pages 582-595, December.
    12. Gunnar Andersson, 2000. "The Impact of Labour-Force Participation on Childbearing Behaviour: Pro-Cyclical Fertility in Sweden during the 1980s and the 1990s," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 16(4), pages 293-333, December.
    13. James M. Raymo & Miho Iwasawa & Larry Bumpass, 2008. "Cohabitation and Family Formation in Japan," ISER Discussion Paper 0714, Institute of Social and Economic Research, Osaka University.
    14. Yue Qian & Zhenchao Qian, 2014. "The gender divide in urban China: Singlehood and assortative mating by age and education," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 31(45), pages 1337-1364.
    15. Liat Raz-Yurovich, 2010. "Men´s and women´s economic activity and first marriage: Jews in Israel, 1987-1995," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 22(29), pages 933-964.
    16. Insu Chang & Heeran Park & Hosung Sohn, 2021. "Causal Impact of School Starting Age on the Tempo of Childbirths: Evidence from Working Mothers and School Entry Cutoff Using Exact Date of Birth," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 37(4), pages 997-1022, November.
    17. Jona Schellekens & David Gliksberg, 2018. "The Decline in Marriage in Israel, 1960–2007: Period or Cohort Effect?," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 34(1), pages 119-142, February.
    18. Fenaba Addo, 2014. "Debt, Cohabitation, and Marriage in Young Adulthood," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 51(5), pages 1677-1701, October.
    19. repec:zbw:rwirep:0196 is not listed on IDEAS
    20. Anna Klabunde & Evelyn Korn, 2010. "Parasites and Raven Mothers: A German-Japanese Comparison on (Lone) Motherhood," Ruhr Economic Papers 0196, Rheinisch-Westfälisches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Universität Dortmund, Universität Duisburg-Essen.
    21. Sojung Lim, 2021. "Socioeconomic differentials in fertility in South Korea," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 44(39), pages 941-978.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bpj:conjap:v:23:y:2011:i:2:p:213-234:n:5. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Peter Golla (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.degruyter.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.