Single Mothers in Japan

As in America, there has been a growing trend of single mothers in Japan. The reasons for being single mothers have changed and it has become more acceptable, but economically, their positions have not changed nearly as much. Single mothers in Japanese society struggle to get by often because society encourages mothers to stay at home and single mothers must balance work and child care. They are portrayed as such in the media. During the first half of our course, three single mothers have come up; one each in the readings, Silent Traders and Downtown, and a main character in the film Sandakan 8. While the portrayal of single mothers in our texts has been positive overall, they also have problems making ends meet.

Aya Ezawa’s How Japanese Single Mothers Work examines the support mothers receive from the Japanese government in the form of Children’s Allowances, a government program, and why so many single mothers need the additional financial padding to make ends meet. Initially after the war, most single mothers were widows because of the war, but by the 1970’s, most were single as a result of divorce. By 2003, roughly 79 percent of single mothers were divorced, 12 percent widowed, while birth out of wedlock was a mere 1.9 percent (Ezawa 61). As the number of single mothers rose, Japan passed reforms to meet the growing needs of single mothers, but very few rely on government welfare. Ezawa explains there is no shortage of single mothers working, but the types of jobs they can take and their salaries are limited. As of 2005, 83 percent of single mothers work and receive Children’s Allowances rather than stigmatized government welfare (Ezawa pg. 62). Single mothers were limited for a number of reasons and that was evident in the stories Ezawa included in her report. Out of about 60 interviews, Ezawa reports “Only a few high school graduates, who consciously pursued qualifications and jobs with opportunities for promotion from an early age, were able to find relatively well paid employment even in their thirties and forties” (Ezawa 72). Most women expected the financial support of a marriage and are discouraged from higher education. Furthermore, they often did part time work or quit work entirely when they had children (Ezawa 74). After they divorced, work became harder to find because they had not worked for several years or more. Single mothers were also limited by daycare hours; they have to take jobs than run from about 9am to 5pm because most day care centers only ran until 6 or 7pm (Ezawa 71). Single mothers have difficulty balancing the demands of their work and the needs of their children and this often pushed them into lower wage jobs and in turn, needing Children’s Allowance. Single mothers have become more common in Japan and the majority, for the various reasons listed above, work full time, but are only just getting by.

Given Ezawa’s data on the reasons for women being single mothers versus mother’s relatively unchanged economic statuses, it makes sense to look at class texts in a chronological order. Although Sandakan 8 was released in 1970, the movie focused primarily on a woman’s life pre-World War II. Sandakan 8 tells the story of karayukisan, Japanese women forced into prostitution into nearby countries to earn money. Reporter Kurihara hears the story of former karayukisan Osaki while staying in Osaki’s house in the countryside. Osaki’s life matches what Ezawa states about the pre-war. After her days as a prostitute were over, Osaki marries in Malaysia, but becomes a widowed, single mother when he husband dies. While the movie makes it clear Osaki had to deaa with the stigma of being a former karayukisan, the movie does not go into detail about what life was like raising her son on her own. There are, however, other indications present. Osaki’s present living conditions could be easily described as just barely getting by. Her house is in shambles, she lives off the money her son sends her, but can afford to feed herself and some cats. Clearly she managed the raise her son successfully, but her present state of living suggests as a single mother, she likely lived hand to mouth. She is presented as a strong, sympathetic character to the audience, but her economic situation seems to have been a desperate one for decades, matching well with Ezawa’s data.

Written in 1948, Downtown by Hayashi Fumiko revolves around the short story of single mother Ryou’s romantic encounter with friend and customer Tsuruishi. Downtown covers Ryou’s day to life as a single mother much more clearly. She is self employed; she walks around local neighborhoods in Tokyo selling tea. Ryou is for all intents and purposes a widow although even she does not know whether her husband, sent to Siberia without a word of his condition, is dead or alive (Fumiko 352). Whether or not she is technically a widow, she receives no financial assistance from her missing husband and so is caring for their son alone. Ryou lives in a generally poor area, downtown Tokyo, and lives very basically. Despite having walked around trying to sell tea all morning, her lunch consists of “two small fish covered with some boiled barley and a few bean-paste pickles” (Fumiko 351). While her situation is not desperate, nor is it terribly satisfying or comfortable. As in Sandakan 8, Ryou is depicted simply as a hardworking single mother caring for son who falls for the kind stranger Tsuruishi. Tsuruishi provides some additional food for her and her son which somewhat mirrors current single mothers whose wages are padded by the children’s allowances. Tsuruishi dies by the end of the story, but there is no insinuation it was punishing Ryou for having slept with Tsuruishi before knowing if her husband was truly dead. More his death was simply an unfortunate accident that sometimes crops up in life. The story ends on a positive note when Ryou finds other women who could potentially help her financially and personally in raising her son alone; a possible situation for a single mother today.

Finally, we have a post-1970’s story to compare with the previous stories and Ezawa’s research. Silent Traders, published in 1982 by Yuko Tsushima, gives insight into the life of an unnamed single mother. Unlike our previous two mothers, she is a single mother because of divorce, fitting the post-1970’s statistics. The protagonist’s job is unknown and while she seems to be getting by alright, her desire for her children to have a father is clear. While she describes their apartment as “cramped,” her house can afford enough food to let her children feed cats every night (Tsushima 420-422). Her musings about cats and fathers demonstrate her intelligence and depth over the course of the story. She is happy enough to have their father take the children out and feed them, but her reasons seem to be more personal than financial concern. She wishes to give her children a father to look up to that she did not have as a child; she goes so far as to meet with a man who hardly speaks to them. Moreover, her relationship with her mother gave the protagonist early incentive to start working early as with some of the more successful few in Ezawa’s interviews.

Interestingly, the 1960’s film Cruel Story of Youth can be looked at to further analyze single mothers in Japanese media. Masahiro is the widower father of Makoto and Yuki. Despite working many hours, the Shinjo family appears to live in lower class neighbor. Again, although the family appears to be getting by well enough, they are not upper class by any means despite how often Masahiro works. In contrast to the previous mothers, Masahiro’s portrayal is less positive. He shows much less spirit than our previous single parents; Masahiro works as hard they did and yet the director portrays him to be a lesser person. He appears to let his daughters do as they please since their mother died and his contribution seems to be mostly financial. Looking at the 4 texts together, Masahiro may be slightly better off, but at the cost of working hours and hours while having little to do with the molding of his children.

Overall, the single mothers in the texts realistically reflect what life probably was like for the majority of single mothers in Japan for their respective time periods. Ezawa’s report presents a comprehensive view on the financial side and struggles of being a single mother. Each story followed fairly closely the patterns Ezawa established such as the reasons for being single mothers and how they handled working and raising children at the same time. They are good mothers to their children, but not well funded. On a more personal level, the stories and films together portray women as excellent mothers better off with a father to take care of their financial needs. A mother can certainly get by on her own, but usually not very comfortably. On the other hands, looking at the example of Masahiro, single fathers must work many hours to provide for their children without having the benefit of a mother to actually raise his kids. Japan is evolving in its attitudes about women working, but women working are an ongoing issue.


Here is my main background source, Ezawa's report: http://www.dijtokyo.org/doc/JS18_ezawa.pdf

I would've liked to included some kind of photos, but this really wasn't that kind of topic since you can't tell a single mother just by looking. I didn't find much results by searching images. I am also lacking in links, but Ezawa's report was fairly comprehensive and the 4 texts gave me plenty to talk about.