We are continuing to put carents on the map with our research into the international world of carenting and this week it’s Japan!
Japan has some significant ageing-related challenges. By 2020 its population was both ageing and shrinking with nearly 30% (28.8%) of its population aged 65 years or more due to a combination of low birth rates, high life expectancies and lack of immigration.
Long before, Japan was already planning for the care needs of an ageing population and in 2000 initiated a Long-Term Care Insurance (LTCI) program with individuals aged over 40 years paying a monthly premium towards their future care provision. However, ceaseless growth of the ageing demographic soon made the LTCI inadequate so it was reformed in 2006 in the name of fiscal stability. Adjustments included reductions in formal care availability for those qualifying under the lowest care needs, cue a subsequent increase in reliance on informal care i.e. carents
Gender differences
In response to such change, a survey published this year recorded a significant decline in physical well-being of some carents; referencing musculoskeletal or respiratory symptoms attributed to the labour-intensive nature of basic caregiving tasks and the need for strength when using deep Japanese bathtubs for example. The controlled survey also highlighted some distinct gender disparities, not concerning the care given, but to the symptoms arising from the caregiving. Whilst female participants specified physical welfare issues, men confessed to improvements in mental health as they thought less about their own.
Experiences in Japan flag some other key issues concerning informal family based care. In Japanese society, carenting roles tend to be embodied primarily by women. Who are these women? The daughters or the daughters in law.
Care micro politics
20th century Japanese family dynamics included the likely co-residency of eldest sons with their parents, with carenting responsibilities becoming an assumed extension of duties for the eldest daughter in law (DIL), even taking precedence over caring for their own parents. In one survey, within the soup of ‘care micropolitics’, DILs expressed how despite providing most of the care their biggest hardship was interacting with blood relatives of the mother-in-law navigating nuances including connections between caregiving and inheritance.
Future carenting in Japan
These findings are shaping the future of carenting in Japan, highlighting the need for policies to be directed towards defending female carent health and wealth and de-gendering the role for the sake of carents and parents in later life.
This article used information from the following sources:
Fu, R., Le, DD. and Ibuka, Y. (2024). The impact of reducing formal care benefits on caregivers’ well-being: evidence from Japan. Review of Economics of the Household link
Long, S.O., Campbell, R. and Nishimura, C. (2009). Does It Matter Who Cares? A Comparison of Daughters versus Daughters-in-Law in Japanese Elder Care. Social Science Japan Journal. link
Thang, L.L., Yui, Y., Wakabayashi, Y. and Miyazawa, H. (2023). Promoting age-friendly community of support and care in Japan’s aging neighborhood: The Nagayama model. Aging and Health Research link
