Leiden University Student Repository

Safin, Samuel (2024)

Kekkon Hyōgaki - “Marriage Ice Age”: Identifying the Shifts in Dating Culture Contributing to the Decline in Japanese Marriage and Birthrate

Bachelor thesis | International Studies (BA)

This thesis seeks to answer how the shift of gender relations and expectations within Japanese society over the period of the last thirty years has impacted the rates of dating, marriage and natality in Japan. It shall seek to explore how incompatible expectations towards potential partners, as well as unrealized expectations held in regards to the dating process itself, are among the primary driving factors behind the drastic decline in the Japanese marriage rate and, consequently, the Japanese birth rate. It shall do this by reviewing Japan's historical attitudes towards marriage and dating, explaining the reasons behind their current state, demonstrate how these have influenced the attitudes men and women hold for each other, and finish on an analysis of the current Japanese dating market and family formation. It shall entertain the possibility of economic factors as secondary contributors to the birth and marriage rate collapse in the discussion section, then conclude on a...Show moreThis thesis seeks to answer how the shift of gender relations and expectations within Japanese society over the period of the last thirty years has impacted the rates of dating, marriage and natality in Japan. It shall seek to explore how incompatible expectations towards potential partners, as well as unrealized expectations held in regards to the dating process itself, are among the primary driving factors behind the drastic decline in the Japanese marriage rate and, consequently, the Japanese birth rate. It shall do this by reviewing Japan's historical attitudes towards marriage and dating, explaining the reasons behind their current state, demonstrate how these have influenced the attitudes men and women hold for each other, and finish on an analysis of the current Japanese dating market and family formation. It shall entertain the possibility of economic factors as secondary contributors to the birth and marriage rate collapse in the discussion section, then conclude on a summary of its findings.Show less

Author

Safin, Samuel

Faculty

Faculty of Humanities

Specialisation

East Asia

Supervisors

Lu Li

ECTS Credits

15

Language

en