FAMILY POLICY IN JAPAN

The pervasive sense of crisis in Japan over the falling birth rate and aging society issues is generating an active public debate about gend er, the family, the organization of the workplace and the policy appro aches best able to cope with these problems. This article considers ex planations for demographic change, then turns to current Japanese fami ly policy, focusing on the contradiction between formal laws and polic ies which aim at supporting families and informal practices which make domestic responsibilities more burdensome, It attempts to provide ins ight into these policies by focusing on the policy process, identifyin g characteristic patterns and approaches, strengths and weaknesses of the Japanese political system.