Families in Japan: Beliefs and Realities

The transformation of a society from a traditional to a modern type involves changes in the family, a demographic revolution, and fading impacts of religion. Japanese society is not an exception. In examining changing patterns of the Japanese family and household there emerged three major findings; namely, emergence of modern characteristics in external spheres, persistence of traditional elements in internal aspects, and existence of distinctive regional variations in rural-urban settings. These findings are taken as evidence to support the dual nature of contemporary Japanese family in which traditional and modern elements coexist simultaneously. In other words, Japanese society today is tolerant of diversification of family alternatives while at the same time protective of its tradition, which may come from the very nature of the multi-religious culture itself.