Demographic Change and the Family in Japan's Aging Society (Suny Series in Japan in Transition and Suny Series in Aging and Culture)

A demographic and ethnographic exploration of how the aging Japanese society is affecting the family. Incorporating qualitative and quantitative data and research methods from both demography and social anthropology, this book explores demographic trends in contemporary Japan's rapidly aging society. The contributors describe and analyze trends by addressing the ways in which demographic change is experienced in the context of family. The book considers the social effects, welfare issues, and private and public responses to demographic change and how this change has influenced the experiences of family caregivers and the elderly themselves. It offers both a specific regional contribution to the emerging field of demographic anthropology and an anthropological contribution to cross-disciplinary research on aging. Author Biography: John W. Traphagan is Assistant Professor of Japanese Studies at the University of Texas at Austin. He is the author of Taming Oblivion: Aging Bodies and the Fear of Senility in Japan, published by SUNY Press, and the coeditor (with Kiyotaka Aoyagi and Peter J. M. Nas) of Toward Sustainable Cities: Readings in the Anthropology of Urban Environments. John Knight is Lecturer at the School of Anthropological Studies at Queen's University Belfast. He is the editor of Natural Enemies: People-Wildlife Conflicts in Anthropological Perspective. Contents Acknowledgments Introduction 1. The Study of the Family in Japan: Integrating Anthropological and Demographic Approaches • John Knight and John W. Traphagan Family and Living Arrangements 2. Changes in the Living Arrangements of Japanese Elderly: The Role of Demographic Factors • James M. Raymo and Toshiko Kaneda 3. Under One Roof: The Evolving Story of Three Generation Housing in Japan • Naomi Brown Coping with Demographic Change 4. Generational Reengagements: Changing Demographic Patterns and the Revival of Intergenerational Contact in Japan • Leng Leng Thang 5. Depopulation in Rural Japan: “Population Politics” in Tōwa-chō • Christopher S. Thompson 6. Repopulating the Village? • John Knight 7. Finding Common Ground: Family, Gender, and Burial in Contemporary Japan • Satsuki Kawano Demographic Change and Aging 8. Trends in the Quantity and Quality o fLife at Older Ages in Japan • Toshiko Kaneda and James M. Raymo 9. Parent Care and Shifting Family Obligations in Urban Japan • Brenda Robb Jenike 10. Contesting Coresidence: Women, In-laws, and Health Care in Rural Japan • John W. Traphagan Epilogue 11. Demographic and Family Change: Problems and Solutions • Susan O. Long and C. Scott Littleton Contributors Name Index Subject Index John W. Traphagan is Assistant Professor of Japanese Studies at the University of Texas at Austin. He is the author of Taming Aging Bodies and the Fear of Senility in Japan , published by SUNY Press, and the coeditor (with Kiyotaka Aoyagi and Peter J. M. Nas) of Toward Sustainable Readings in the Anthropology of Urban Environments . John Knight is Lecturer at the School of Anthropological Studies at Queen's University Belfast. He is the editor of Natural People-Wildlife Conflicts in Anthropological Perspective .