Employment and Household Tasks of Japanese Couples, 1994-2009.

The paper examines changes in the relationship between employment and household tasks of Japanese couples, using data drawn from national cross-sectional surveys in 1994, 2000 and 2009 of persons aged 20-49 and from the 2009 follow-up of the 2000 survey. Wives' employment is structured by their husbands' employment time and earning power, as well as by their family situations including the presence and age of children and coresidence with parents. Housework hours of husbands, though very low, increased over time, while wives' hours decreased.

Order Amidst Change: Work and Family Trajectories in Japan.

Substantial family and work macro-level change has been occurring in Japan. Examples include a decline in the availability of jobs that afford lifetime protection against unemployment, an increase in jobs that do not carry benefits such as a pension, an increase in age at marriage and at first birth, and an increase in marital dissolution. Using life history data from the 2000 National Survey on Family and Economic Conditions, young Japanese appear to have responded to these macro-level changes in a fairly orderly manner.