Countries: Japan
Variables: ABO-LAW-1

"The country has not approved many forms of contraception, such as hormonal implants, hormone patches or the progesterone-only "mini pill", available in many other countries. In April, Japan finally approved the oral abortion pill, decades after other developed countries...Previously, the only way to get an abortion was through invasive surgical procedures. Women also need their partner's consent to get an abortion" (par. 36-37, 39-40).

Countries: Japan
Variables: BR-DATA-1

"Japan's fertility rate has been declining for seven consecutive years to a record low of 1.26 births per woman in 2022" (par. 52).

Countries: Japan
Variables: CRPLB-PRACTICE-1

"Japan's national health insurance does not cover pregnancy and childbirth-related costs including prenatal, delivery, or postpartum care. A survey earlier this year found that more than 70 per cent of women cited high child-rearing costs as the top reason for Japan's declining birth rate, and over 60 per cent said that responsibilities of raising a child are disproportionately placed on women" (par. 10-11). "On June 26, Japan made the long-awaited decision to trial making emergency contraceptives, commonly known as Plan B or the morning-after pill, available over-the-counter at some pharmacies" (par. 18). "The national healthcare insurance excludes everything on reproductive health, but they cover everything 'necessary' in health care' [Kazuko...more

Countries: Japan
Variables: DACH-PRACTICE-2

"On a Friday night, Haruka suddenly found herself in desperate need of the "morning-after pill" after having sex with her husband while ovulating. . .'I have never been able to get [him] to use contraception,' she said. Haruka said her husband had also pressured her to stop taking birth control, just one of the ways he 'abused' and 'dominated' her in their marriage. Although he controlled the couple's money, only allowing her a small monthly allowance, she was able to build financial independence and paid 17,000 yen ($180) for one Levonorgestrel pill after they had unprotected sex about six years ago. That morning-after pill needs to be taken within 72...more

Countries: Japan
Variables: RISW-PRACTICE-1

"On June 26, Japan made the long-awaited decision to trial making emergency contraceptives, commonly known as Plan B or the morning-after pill, available over-the-counter at some pharmacies" (par. 18).

Countries: Japan
Variables: MARR-DATA-1

"'We need to be aware the trend of falling births has not been arrested. But the number of marriages posted an increase'" (para 15). "Marriages did perk up in Japan last year, but the growth was only 2.2 percent year-on-year compared to South Korea’s 14.9 percent" (para 16).

Countries: Japan
Variables: ERBG-PRACTICE-3

"Women lead just 0.8% of the 1,643 firms listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange’s top-tier prime market, according to a survey by the Kyodo news agency, which based its findings on fiscal 2023 financial statements” (para 2). "The low numbers underline the uphill struggle Japan’s government faces in reaching its target of having women in at least 30% of executive roles by the end of the decade” (para 3). “The proportion of senior women in business remains low even under the government’s wider definition of ‘executive’, which includes corporate officers, as well as directors, auditors and executive officers” (para 5). “A decade after the then prime minister, Shinzo Abe, told...more

Countries: Japan
Variables: ERBG-DATA-6

"Women lead just 0.8% of the 1,643 firms listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange’s top-tier prime market, according to a survey by the Kyodo news agency, which based its findings on fiscal 2023 financial statements” (para 2). “According to a 2022 OECD survey, women held just 15.5% of executive positions in Japan, compared with 40.9% in Britain and 45.2% in France. Only China and South Korea had a smaller proportion of female executives” (para 7). “Women have, though, been appointed to several prominent positions in recent years, and the Kyodo survey found that the number of female board members exceeded 3,000 – double the number five years ago” (para 9).more

Countries: Japan
Variables: ERBG-PRACTICE-1

“Japan’s long campaign to appoint more women to senior roles in business and industry has suffered a blow after a survey found that just 13 chief executive officers at the country’s top companies are female. Women lead just 0.8% of the 1,643 firms listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange’s top-tier prime market, according to a survey by the Kyodo news agency, which based its findings on fiscal 2023 financial statements. Kyodo said the figures demonstrated Japan’s slow progress in “increasing diversity among its corporate decision makers”. The low numbers underline the uphill struggle Japan’s government faces in reaching its target of having women in at least 30% of executive roles...more

Countries: Japan
Variables: UVAW-PRACTICE-1

"More alarmingly, a toxic mix of intense social isolation and changing gender dynamics has contributed to several cases of 'incels' – involuntarily celibate young men – violently targeting women" (para 2). "In July, an Osaka man was arrested for smearing his own excrement on a young woman’s shoulder bag as she walked on the street. He told police that he was suffering from stress and had 'ill will' towards women" (para 8). "There has definitely been an increase in incidents in the last 18 months or so,” he said. “In the past, something like [Tsushima’s attack] was virtually unheard of, but the media have coined a new term for this,...more

Countries: Japan
Variables: MURDER-PRACTICE-1

"In May 2016, besotted fan Tomohiro Iwazaki stabbed pop star Mayu Tomita, 20, more than 60 times while she was on her way to sing at a concert in Tokyo. Tomita had returned books and a watch Iwazaki sent her, prompting him to send about 400 increasingly threatening social media messages in the weeks before the attack. Iwazaki was sentenced to 14 years and six months in prison" (para 12).

Countries: Japan
Variables: ASR-DATA-2

"The percentage of women enrolled in medical schools exceeded 40 percent for the first time in fiscal 2023 in the wake of an admission rigging scandal, an education ministry survey found. The percentage had remained at the 30-percent range for about a quarter of a century and had been referred to as the '40-percent barrier'" (par. 2). "For some medical schools, more than half of the students they admit now are women. The ministry surveyed medical schools at national, public and private universities and found that 3,696 of the 9,198 students enrolled in fiscal 2023 were women. The percentage of women increased 1.7 percentage points from the previous year to...more

Countries: Japan
Variables: MARR-PRACTICE-2

"The nation’s changing attitudes toward family also played a role in freeing up women for work. The average age of people marrying for the first time has been steadily rising, and fertility rates are at record lows. Delaying marriage, delaying childbearing years, not getting married at all — that’s the big societal backdrop,” said Paul Sheard, an economist who has long been focused on the nation" (Para 22-23).

Countries: Japan
Variables: ERBG-DATA-2

"[T]he female labor force participation rate was initially lower than that of the U.S. but started to rise sharply around 2013, surpassing the U.S. rate in the mid-2010s and continuing to grow. By 2023, it approaches 80%" (Para 11). "The United States once had higher female labor force participation for working-age women than other advanced economies, but it has now been surpassed by many, including Japan as of 2015" (Para 19). "These days, about 77 percent of prime-age women in the United States have a job or are looking for one. That number is about 83 percent for Japanese women, up from about 74 percent a decade ago and about...more

Countries: Japan
Variables: ERBG-PRACTICE-1

"The jump in female participation has happened partly by design. Since about 2013, the Japanese government has tried to make both public policies and corporate culture more friendly to women in the work force. The goal was to attract a new source of talent at a time when the world’s fourth-largest economy faces an aging and shrinking labor market" (Para 4). “Where Japan did well over the recent decade is putting the care infrastructure in place for working parents,” Nobuko Kobayashi, a partner at EY-Parthenon in Japan, wrote in an email" (Para 5). "Still, even some who were around when the “womenomics” policies were designed have been caught off guard...more