PRAGMATIC SINGLES:

BEING AN UNMARRIED WOMAN IN CONTEMPORARY

by

Tamiko Ortega Noll

BA, Bucknell University, 1985

MPH, University of Pittsburgh, 1999

Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of

FAS Department of Anthropology in partial fulfillment

of the requirements for the degree of

Doctor of Philosophy

University of Pittsburgh

2004 UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH

FACULTY OF ARTS AND SCIENCES

This dissertation was presented

by

Tamiko Ortega Noll

It was defended on

April 23, 2004

and approved by

Dr. Nicole Constable,

Dr. Kathleen DeWalt,

Dr. Akiko Hashimoto,

Dr. Andrew Strathern,

Dr. Keith Brown, Professor, Department of Anthropology Dissertation Director

ii

Copyright by Tamiko Ortega Noll 2004

iii PRAGMATIC SINGLES:

BEING AN UNMARRIED WOMAN IN A CONTEMPORARY JAPAN

Tamiko Ortega Noll, PhD

University of Pittsburgh, 2004

The concept of an unmarried Japanese woman carries a variety of changing meanings for both

women and men. In the past unmarried Japanese women were viewed as a conceptual anomaly

vis-à-vis the dominant rhetoric of universal marriage. In contemporary Japan women are

marrying later or even choosing not to marry at all. Demographers view the personal actions by

unmarried women as cumulatively accounting for a large component of the declining birthrate.

Such analysis of vital records has instilled panic among government officials already fearful of

the rapidly aging population and its effect on Japan’s future as a nation. In this dissertation I

explore how unmarried Japanese women create and sustain their identities despite a public

rhetoric that marginalizes, degrades, or even denies their existence as a social category. I argue

that unmarried Japanese women are not “parasite singles,” the homogenous entity that the

Japanese government and media have portrayed them to be. Nor are they a part of an explicit, organized feminist revolution. Drawing upon social theories which examine the tensions between practice and ideology, agency and structure I argue that unmarried Japanese are responding to a specific set of economic, political, and social conditions in which they find themselves. The cultural dialogue associated with “being unmarried” exposes how the government naturalizes and rationalizes the marital union to support its interests in maintaining productivity of the core (male) workforce, and the reproduction of future Japanese citizens.

Based on ethnographic data collected in a city in rural Japan, I discuss how linguistic expressions

iv and metaphors create images of “being married,” how normative rhetoric about productivity in relation to women’s life course defines appropriate employment and leisure activities, and how unmarried women’s bodies are a site of state control through contraceptive regulations and other government policies. A focus on the discourse surrounding unmarried women exposes how they are positioned as key players in the maintenance of latent cultural logics regarding the family, work, nation, and reproduction. Even so, through their everyday enactments of “being unmarried,” through resistance and compromise, unmarried women in this local city force and enforce change in the social landscape of contemporary Japan.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

PREFACE...... ix 1. Introduction...... 1 1.1. Background...... 3 1.2. Research Methods...... 5 1.3. Overview of Chapters ...... 10 2. Pragmatic Women and Attitudes Toward Marriage ...... 20 3. Labels and Marginality ...... 71 4. Producing Productivity: Work and Leisure ...... 110 5. Sexual Bodies, Contraception and Gender Ideologies...... 150 6. Conclusion ...... 190 APPENDIX A...... 198 Field Methods ...... 198 APPENDIX B ...... 201 Statistics ...... 201 BIBLIOGRAPHY...... 223

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LIST OF TABLES

Table 1 Proportion Never Married, Singulate Mean Age at Marriage , Japan: 1920-2000...... 34 Table 2 Proportions of Currently Married Population, By Age Group and Sex, Japan ...... 35 Table 3 Proportions of Never Married Population, By Age Group and Sex, Japan...... 36 Table 4 Population Never Married, Married Widowed, or Divorced, as a Percentage of the Total Population of Morioka ...... 37 Table 5 Average Age At Marriage...... 38 Table 6 Proportion Employed and the Employment-Status /Occupational Composition of the Employed by Age: Never Married Japanese Women Aged 16-49, 1996...... 140 Table 7 Population by Marital Status, Sex, Whether Living with Parents, Japan (1995) ...... 204 Table 8 Labor Force Participation By Age Group and Sex, Japan...... 205 Table 9 Contraceptive Methods Used by Currently Married Women (%)...... 206 Table 10 Contraceptive Methods used by Unmarried Women (%)...... 207 Table 11 Contraceptive Methods in the U.S. and Japan...... 208 Table 12 Contraceptive Failure Rates...... 209 Table 13 Distribution of Reported Abortions by Age, Japan and the United States, 1976 ...... 210 Table 14 Distribution of Responses to a Question Regarding Priority of Contraceptive Method Features, in Percentages, Tokyo Area Clinic and Hospital Sample, 1975–1976 ...... 211 Table 15 Pregnancy Outcome, by Contraceptive Use, for First and Last Pregnancies for Married Japanese Women of Childbearing Age Ever Pregnant, 1981...... 212 Table 16 Proportion of Japanese Women Who Want to Use Low Dose Oral Contraceptives if Made Legally Available...... 213 Table 17 Reasons Given by Japanese Women as to Why They Want to Use Oral Contraceptives ...... 214 Table 18 Reasons Given by Japanese Women as to Why They Would Not Want to Use Oral Contraceptives...... 215 Table 19 Start of Contraception Among Married Women, 1990-1998...... 216 Table 20 Experience of Induced Abortion Among Unmarried Women (%)...... 217 Table 21 Comparison of Ratio of Births of Children Out of Wedlock...... 218 Table 22 Proportion of Married and Unmarried Women with a Negative Image Towards Out of Wedlock Births ...... 219 Table 23 Proportion of Married and Unmarried Women Who Would Consider Having an Out of Wedlock Birth...... 219 Table 24 Reasons for Not Having an Out of Wedlock Birth for Married and Unmarried Women ...... 220 Table 25 First Births Conceived Out of Wedlock, Japan ...... 221

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LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1 Experience of Sexual Intercourse Among Unmarried Women...... 201 Figure 2 Contraceptive Practice Among Unmarried Women...... 202 Figure 3 Rate of Experience of Abortion Among Unmarried Women...... 203 Figure 4 First Births Conceived Before Marriage, By Mother’s Age ...... 222

viii PREFACE

This research would not have been possible without the generosity and support of many institutions and individuals, both in Japan and the United States. As I struggle to find a way to give voice to my gratitude I realize how inadequate such words are. The people of the city of

Morioka bestowed their kindness upon me in many ways during my fieldwork. My informants and friends, who shall remain anonymous, shared their lives with me, and for that I will be forever grateful. I would also like to thank Tamotsu and Yoshiko Kawamura for their guidance, patience, and assistance during my stay in Morioka. I would like to acknowledge Yayoi Mita for her assistance with my research. I am grateful to officials from the Morioka City government and the Iwate Prefectural government for their useful information and statistics. I also want to thank Dr. Hiroko Hara at the Ochanomizu University Institute for Gender Studies in Tokyo for her guidance in the field.

I am very grateful for the financial support I received for my fieldwork in Japan and during graduate work at the University of Pittsburgh and. My research was funded by the Fulbright

Foundation in the form of a Dissertation Research Grant, a Graduate Research Development

Award from the Japan Council at the University of Pittsburgh, and a pilot research grant from the

Endowment Fund/Japan Iron and Steel Foundation Fellowship at the University of Pittsburgh.

Other financial support from the university included the Andrew Mellow Predoctoral Fellowship, a teaching assistantship in the Department of Anthropology, and an instructorship position in the

Department of Sociology.

I have many professors, colleagues, and friends to thank for their roles in my professional development. First, I would like to thank Dr. Paul Noguchi who first introduced me to the field

ix of anthropology at Bucknell University. At the University of Pittsburgh I would like to thank my committee members: Dr. Keith Brown, Dr. Nicole Constable, Dr. Kathleen DeWalt, Dr. Andrew

Strathern, and Dr. Akiko Hashimoto for their encouragement and insightful comments on my work. I don’t know how I will ever repay Dr. Brown, my advisor and most vocal supporter throughout my years in graduate school years, for everything he has done for me. I am grateful for his patience and the attention he gave to the extremely rough drafts of my dissertation. I feel honored to have been one of his students and I have greatly benefited from interactions with my fellow students of Japan. In particular, I appreciated discussions of my work with my colleagues

Dr. John Traphagan and Dr. Hiro Yoshida. Dr. Rada Drezgic and Dr. Linda Morrison offered their friendship and support over the years and for that I am grateful. I want to thank Dr. Kata

Chillag for her kindness, sense of humor, and willingness to help me through my darkest moments during graduate school. I would also like to thank Phyllis Deasy from the Department of Anthropology for her assistance, patience, and guidance through the administrative and logistical quagmire of requirements for graduation. I could not have accomplished the writing this dissertation without my kindred spirits at Phinished who helped me feel like I was a part of a community and encouraged me to plod on. I would also like to thank Midoriko Kawamura for her friendship and insights into Japanese culture during her stay in Ann Arbor.

I would not have gotten this far without the love and support of my family. My parents,

Louis and Sachiko Ortega and my in-laws, Clair and Jeanne Noll have supported me from the beginning in many ways. I am grateful for their encouragement over the years. I am also very appreciative of the support of my in Japan and their willingness to put up with my short visits and hectic schedules. My husband, Doug, has been my main source of inspiration throughout the years. Without his love, patience, and guidance, I never would have

x made this journey. Lastly, I would like dedicate this dissertation to my son, Wilson Ortega Noll, who helped me see the world through new eyes and showed me “what makes life worth living.”

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1. INTRODUCTION

I was referred to the Morioka Working Woman’s House by a male employee in the

Prefectural Government’s Youth and Women’s division during my pilot research. The Working

Women’s House, a non-descript concrete structure, is a city sponsored organization that offers classes and a meeting place for clubs. I was interested in a place where I would be able to meet unmarried women on a weekly basis, and judging from the name of the building, it sounded ideal. I spoke with one of the workers in the office, who was incredibly friendly and supportive.

“Yes, yes, women are getting married later and later. There are a lot of unmarried women here in Morioka. The women here are very talkative, especially while they are sewing or cooking.

I’m sure they would be interested in your project.”

The following year I returned to the Working Women’s House with much anticipation. I took out my meishi (business card), my letter of introduction, and the project description and entered the lobby of the building. After removing my shoes and putting on slippers, I walked up to the woman working at the reception counter and gave her my materials and explained why I was there. I mentioned that I spoke with a woman the previous year that seemed supportive and

I inquired about the current classes or clubs that I might be able to participate in. The women read over my papers and then said that the woman I spoke with no longer works there. “And besides, most of the women who come here are married women. There are a few unmarried women, but the majority are married.” “Are the clubs and classes for married women only?” I asked. “No, technically it is for adults over age 18, but I don’t think that unmarried women

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would feel comfortable here. Most of the women who come here are in their forties and fifties

and their children are grown. They finally have some time for themselves so they pursue their

hobbies. If you want to talk to unmarried women you should go to the Working Youth’s

Center.” I was disappointed and a bit puzzled. In this context “working” is definitely not the

same as paid employment. Moreover, from this woman’s comments it would appear that

unmarried women were more closely identified as “youth.”

I walked across town to the Working Youth’s Center climbed the steps up to the second

floor of the concrete building. There were two men sitting in the main office, so I spoke to the

one closest to the door. I repeated the introduction with my meishi and gave him my materials.

At this point the other man, who appeared to be older, stood up and offered me a seat at a small couch. I told him that I was referred to him by woman at the Working Woman’s House, and I was interested in learning about the clubs and classes that unmarried women attend. The older man said that were several classes held every evening targeted at young people under the age of

29 who work during the day. Most of the participants are women, but there was an English club that had both men and women. I asked why the age limit was 29 and he said that most women were married by then and were more likely to have family responsibilities as they got older. He said that there were a few women who were older and unmarried who still participated in club, but it’s because they were long time members. Older women wouldn’t feel comfortable here, he explained, even if they weren’t married. If a 30 year old unmarried woman came here to join a class, and she had never been here before, he would most likely refer her to the Working

Woman’s House.

My experiences here in Morioka indicate the extent to which age-grading activities exist at the municipal level. It was not surprising to find that age and marital status in were tightly

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linked in the conceptual realm of the program planners in Morioka. Demographic statistics

dictate where to invest money to benefit the population. What did surprise me was how

“dislocating” an experience it must be for women who do not fit the demographic pattern.

1.1. Background

The concept of an unmarried1 Japanese woman carries a variety of changing meanings for both women and men. In this dissertation I explore how unmarried Japanese women create and sustain their identities despite a public rhetoric that marginalizes, ignores, or even denies their existence as a social category. Japanese women have been defined in terms of categories such as

“daughter,” “wife,” “mother,” “grandmother,” and “worker” (cf. Kondo 1990, Lebra 1984, Lock

1993, Roberts 1994, Rosenberger 1987, Tamanoi 1990, Uno 1993). These categories are produced in relation to cultural assumptions about a “natural” progression of human beings according to age, gender, and biological reproductive capabilities. In the past unmarried

Japanese women were viewed as a conceptual anomaly vis-à-vis the dominant rhetoric of universal marriage.

The current demographic trends in Japan show a significant portion of women’s reproductive years now occur before marriage. If marriage and motherhood are fundamental experiences for Japanese women’s identities, delaying these events must also carry significant value. This dissertation takes the state of being a single Japanese woman as a problematic

category, which challenges Japanese cultural assumptions of identity and life purpose. A focus

on the discourse surrounding unmarried exposes how Japanese women in

1 In this project, I use the terms “unmarried” and “single” to denote women who have never married. In Japanese the technical term for such women is “mikon.” See chapter 3 for a discussion of labels and terms related to marital status.

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general are seen as key players in the maintenance of latent cultural logics regarding the family,

work, nation, and reproduction.

The diversity of unmarried Japanese women’s life experiences in Morioka challenges

theories labels which portray them as a homogenous group of “parasite singles.”2 The Japanese media and the government have given the derogatory label “parasite singles” to unmarried adults who live at home to exploit their parent’s resources. Not only are they are viewed as parasites upon their parents, they are branded as parasites upon society for their reluctance to get married, set up new households, and live as productive Japanese citizens. Unmarried Japanese women in particular have been subjected to particularly harsh scrutiny, as their reproductive potential is vital to sustaining Japan’s population.

Drawing upon social theories which examine the tensions between practice and ideology, agency and structure, I argue that in “being unmarried Japanese women” my informants are responding to a specific set of economic, political, and social conditions in which they find themselves enmeshed. As individuals, women in a local city like Morioka, make small changes to the social scripts which impinge upon their lives. In enacting this process they forge new identities which demonstrate agency and resistance to social norms and generate demographic changes which echo in the wider population of Japan.

Researchers have focused on contemporary Japanese women’s participation in employment and higher education, (cf. Allison 1994, Buckley 1993, Kondo, 1990, Lebra 1984, Roberts 1994) yet virtually none includes the behavior of single women. Clearly, there is a definite need for such studies which center on the beliefs, experiences, and practices of single Japanese women, as they are crucial to Japan’s future generations (Steinhoff 1992:1991). Through analysis of single

2 The phrase “” began circulating in the late 1990’s after I conducted my fieldwork. Sociologist Masahiro Yamada, in his book, Parasaito Shinguru no Jidai (The Era of Parasite Singles), is one of the main proponents of this derogatory term.

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women’s everyday lives, this research illuminates how life course representations of contemporary single Japanese women are created, maintained, contested, and resisted (cf. Lebra

1984, Lock 1993, Tamanoi 1990).

In order to understand how the lives and experiences of young single women living in a city in rural Japan challenge the parasite single characterization, this dissertation aims to:

1) Understand how single Japanese women construct attitudes toward marriage and why they postpone marriage or plan not to marry at all despite overwhelming social pressure to marry;

2) Examine how normative rhetoric about “productivity” in relation to life course defines appropriate occupational roles, employment opportunities, and leisure activities for single

Japanese women;

3) Explore how attitudes and beliefs about being a single Japanese woman are reinforced, reflected, and resisted through the us