Single women and housing choices in urban Japan

Abstract

Japan has experienced a particularly sharp decline in marriage in recent decades and a subsequent increase in ‘never-marrieds’ and single-person households. Social fragmentation has been associated with prolonged economic instability and neoliberalization that has restructured employment, housing and policy contexts. A particular social concern has been the difficulties facing those who do not follow conventional married life-courses. While marriage has been important to progress up a housing ladder and property asset ownership, singledom constrains housing choices and shapes very different life-chances over the life-course. This is especially true for single women who are disadvantaged in both housing and labour markets. This article examines the ongoing restructuring of housing opportunities that are helping reshape gender differences and experiences, as well as the new housing careers being followed by the growing number of urban single women in Japan. Based on interviews with female singles in metropolitan Tokyo, as well as secondary data from national surveys, the article considers how housing opportunities and choices are being renegotiated in regard to changing expectations of marriage, life-courses and home. We also reflect upon relationships between housing choices, social policy, single life-courses and processes of individualization.

Japón ha experimentado una particularmente rápida caída en los casamientos en las recientes décadas y un subsecuente incremento en los ‘nunca casados’ y los hogares de personas que viven solas. La fragmentación social ha estado asociada a una prolongada inestabilidad económica y neoliberalización que ha restructurado los contextos de empleo, vivienda y políticas. Las dificultades que encuentran aquellas personas que no siguen los caminos convencionales de la vida en matrimonio han sido una particular preocupación social. Mientras que el matrimonio ha sido importante para facilitar el acceso a una vivienda cada vez mejor y a la propiedad de bienes, el ser soltero/a limita las opciones de vivienda y da forma a opciones de vida muy distintas a lo largo de la vida. Esto es especialmente verdad para las mujeres solteras que están en desventaja en los mercados de la vivienda y el trabajo. El artículo examina la restructuración en curso de las oportunidades de vivienda que están contribuyendo a reconfigurar las diferencias y experiencias de género, así como también las nuevas carreras profesionales de vivienda que son seguidas por el creciente número de mujeres urbanas solteras en Japón. Basándose en entrevistas con mujeres solteras en el área metropolitana de Tokio, así como en datos secundarios de encuestas nacionales, el artículo estudia cómo las oportunidades y opciones de vivienda están siendo renegociadas con respecto a las expectativas de matrimonio, las trayectorias de vida y el hogar, que están en proceso de cambio. También reflexionamos sobre las relaciones entre las opciones de vivienda, políticas sociales, trayectorias de vida de personas solteras y procesos de individualización.

近数十年来，日本结婚率急遽下降，‘不婚族?与单人家户则显著增加。长期经济不稳定，加上再结构就业，住宅和政策环境的新自由主义化，社会分化(social fragmentation)随之而生。非遵循传统婚姻生活模式者所面临的困难，则成了特别的社会问题。婚姻做为在住居方面向上移动(progress up a housing ladder)与获得财产所有权的重要机制；单人宿舍则限缩了住房选择，并在生涯中形塑了不同的生命机运，对于在居住与就业市场中皆处于不利位置的单身女性而言更是如此。本文检视持续进行中的住宅机会重构，此一过程重新形塑了性别差异与经验，新兴的房仲业亦随着日本都会单身女性的成长而产生。本文根据对东京大都会单身女性所进行的访谈，以及国家资料库的二手资料，考虑在婚姻、生涯与家庭期望的转变中，住宅机会与选择如何进行再协商。我们同时反思住宅选择，社会政策，单身生活与个人化过程的相互关系。

Keywords:

• single women
• ‘never-marrieds’
• housing choices
• Japan

Keywords:

• mujeres solteras
• ‘nunca casados’
• opciones de vivienda
• Japón

Keywords:

• 单身女性
• 不婚族
• 住宅选择
• 日本

Acknowledgements

The work described in this article was supported by a grant from the Research Grants Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China (Project No. CUHK4018/02H) awarded to Lynne Nakano. The research was also made possible by a 2001 Summer Grant for Research and a 2001–2002 Direct Grant awarded to Lynne Nakano by the Chinese University of Hong Kong. The authors thank the Department of Japanese Studies, The Chinese University of Hong Kong for financial support, and Moeko Wagatsuma and Chan Yim Ting Helen for their assistance in conducting research. We are indebted to all the women who shared their stories and their time. This project would not have been possible without their help.

Notes

1. The word ‘ie’ literally denotes both family and house.

2. Of more than 50 million housing units built between 1945 and 1995, 28.9% received GHLC finance (MLIT 2005). Meanwhile, homeownership expanded from around 25% of urban housing before 1940 to 64% by 1965.

3. Female homeownership rates were 32% for ages 30–34, 55% for ages 40–44 and 70% for ages 50–54.

4. Employment restructuring is argued to have diminished the capacity of male-breadwinners to support families, with men reluctant to wed until they feel financially secure enough to support a household. In 2002, the ratio of unmarried men aged 30–34 in regular employment was 41% compared to 70% among non-regular workers (MHLW 2006). By contrast, the argument for women has been that improved educational and employment opportunities have reduced the possibilities for women to find suitable, higher status men (see Yamada 2005; Shirahase 2005).

5. The ratio of arranged marriages fell from 29.4% in 1982 to 6.4% in 2005 (IPSS 2008).

6. 10,000 Yen = 90 Euro approx.

7. All names of informants used in this article are pseudonyms.

8. The Heian period of Japanese history (794–1185), considered the peak of the Japanese imperial court.

9. For example, the social rental sector makes up around 18 and 32% of the housing market in the UK and the Netherlands, respectively.