Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gbm5v Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-24T18:33:36.808Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Women and Housing Assets in the Context of Japan's Home-owning Democracy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 October 2008

YOSUKE HIRAYAMA  and
MISA IZUHARA
YOSUKE HIRAYAMA
Affiliation:
Professor of Housing and Urban Studies, Kobe University, Japan
MISA IZUHARA
Affiliation:
School for Policy Studies, University of Bristol email [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Despite the fact that women's rights have been increasingly defined as equal to men's in law and policy, in post-Second World War Japan women continue to be at a disadvantage in many aspects of social and economic life. Drawing from a survey of 2,205 Japanese women, this article focuses in particular on women's home ownership as a new catalyst behind increasing social stratification in Japan. The women's experiences are closely linked to Japan's institutional ‘familism’: the development of social policy that has been explicitly connected to the male-breadwinner model. We argue that a wide range of institutional and policy practices – mortgage provision, property ownership, social security and taxation and labour market mechanisms – has combined to define the housing asset status of women. We discuss the women's current housing asset portfolio, and also recent socio-economic changes that have begun to redefine their position in a home-owning society. The case of Japan – a patriarchal but shifting home-owning democracy – contributes to our understanding of the contemporary dynamics of women's interaction between family, work and housing in the institutional context.

Type
Article
Information
Journal of Social Policy , Volume 37 , Issue 4 , October 2008 , pp. 641 - 660
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2008

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Council for Gender Equality (2002), Raifu Sutairu no Sentaku to Zeisei, Shakai Hosho Seido, Koyo Sisutemu ni Kansuru Hokokusho [Report on Lifestyle Choice and Systems of Taxation, Social Security and Employment], Tokyo: Council for Gender Equality.Google Scholar
Esping-Andersen, G. (1997), ‘Hybrid or unique?: the Japanese welfare state between Europe and America’, Journal of European Social Policy, 7: 3, 179–89.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Finch, J., Hayes, L., Mason, J., Masson, J. and Wallis, L. (1996), Wills, Inheritance and Families, Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Forrest, R. and Murie, A. (eds) (1995), Housing and Family Wealth: Comparative International Perspectives, London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Forrest, R., Murie, A. and Williams, P. (1990), Home Ownership: Differentiation and Fragmentation, London: Unwin Hyman.Google Scholar
Gilroy, R. and Woods, R. (eds) (1994), Housing Women, London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Groves, R., Murie, A. and Watson, C. (eds) (2007), Housing and the New Welfare State: Perspectives from East Asia and Europe, Aldershot: Ashgate.Google Scholar
Hamamoto, C. (2004), ‘Defure fukyo ka no hinkon no keiken’ [‘Economic deflation and poverty experiences’], in Higuchi, Y. and Ota, K. (eds), Joseitachi no Heisei Fukyo [Women and Heisei Recession], Tokyo: Nihon Keizai Shinbunsha.Google Scholar
Hirayama, Y. (2003), ‘Housing and social inequality in Japan’, in Izuhara, M. (ed.), Comparing Social Policies: Exploring New Perspectives in Britain and Japan, Bristol: The Policy Press.Google Scholar
Hirayama, Y. (2005), ‘Running hot and cold in the urban home ownership market: the experience of Japan's major cities’, Journal of Housing and the Built Environment, 20: 1, 1–20.Google Scholar
Hirayama, Y. and Hayakawa, K (1995), ‘Home ownership and family wealth in Japan’, in Forrest, R. and Murie, A. (eds), Housing and Family Wealth: Comparing International Perspectives, London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Hirayama, Y. and Ronald, R. (eds) (2007), Housing and Social Transition in Japan, London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Holliday, I. and Wilding, P. (eds) (2003), Welfare Capitalism in East Asia: Social Policy in the Tiger Economies, Basingstoke: Palgrave.Google Scholar
Institute for Research on Household Economics (2006a), Josei no Raifu Kosu to Jutaku Shoyu [Women's Life-course and Home Ownership], Tokyo: Institute for Research on Household Economics.Google Scholar
Institute for Research on Household Economics (2006b), Women and Material Assets in Britain and Japan, Tokyo: Institute for Research on Household Economics.Google Scholar
Izuhara, M. (2000), Family Change and Housing in Post-War Japanese Society: The Experiences of Older Women, Aldershot: Ashgate.Google Scholar
Izuhara, M. (2002), ‘Care and inheritance: Japanese and English perspectives on the “generational contract”’, Ageing and Society, 22: 1, 61–77.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Izuhara, M. (2004), ‘Negotiating family support?: the “generational contract” between long-term care and inheritance’, Journal of Social Policy, 33: 4, 649–65.Google Scholar
Izuhara, M. (2005), ‘Residential property, cultural practices and the “generational contract” in England and Japan’, International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 29: 2, 341–57.Google Scholar
Japan Institute for Labour Policy and Training (2004), How Did the Performance-Based Employment Alter Work Places?, Tokyo: Japan Institute for Labour Policy and Training.Google Scholar
Kurz, K. and Blossfeld, H. (2004), Home Ownership and Social Inequality in Comparative Perspective, Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Lewis, J. (1992), ‘Gender and the development of welfare regimes’, Journal of European Social Policy, 2: 3, 159–73.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Matsumoto, M. (1998), ‘Seijin mikonsha no Tokyo kennai niokeru kyoju jittai’ [‘Housing conditions of unmarried people in the Tokyo metropolitan area’], Sogo Toshi Kenkyu [Comprehensive Urban Studies], 66: 79–92.Google Scholar
Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (2006), Jutaku Keizai Deta Shu [Housing Economy Data Book], Tokyo: Jutaku Sangyo Shinposha.Google Scholar
Miura, A. (2005), Karyu Shakai [Low-class Society], Tokyo: Kobunsha.Google Scholar
National Institute of Population and Social Security Research (2001), Setai nai Tanshinsha ni kansuru Jittai Chosa [Survey on Parasite Singles], Tokyo: National Institute of Population and Social Security Research.Google Scholar
Orloff, A. S. (1993), ‘Gender and the social rights of citizenship: state policies and gender relations in comparative research’, American Sociological Review, 58: 3, 303–28.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Osawa, M. (1993), Kigyo Chushin Shakai wo Koete [Beyond the Firm-oriented Society: An Examination of Japan with Gender Studies], Tokyo: Jiji Press.Google Scholar
Osawa, M. (2006), ‘Gyaku kinou ni ochiitta nihon gata seikatsu hosho sisutemu’ [‘Growing dysfunction of the Japanese-style social security system’], in Tokyo University, Institute of Social Science (ed.), ‘Ushinawareta 10-nen’ wo Koete vol. 1: Keizai Kiki no Kyokun [Beyond the ‘Lost Decade’ vol. 1: The Lessons of Economic Crisis], Tokyo: Tokyo University Press.Google Scholar
Peng, I. (2000), ‘A fresh look at the Japanese welfare state’, Social Policy and Administration, 34: 1, 87–114.Google Scholar
Recruit (2005), Shutoken Shinchiku Manshon Keiyakusha Doko Chosa [Research on New Condominium Purchasers in the Capital Metropolitan Area], Tokyo: Recruit Co. Ltd.Google Scholar
Sainsbury, D. (ed.) (1994), Gendering Welfare State, Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.Google Scholar
Sakai, J. (2003), Makeinu no Toboe [The Grumbling of the Loser], Tokyo: Kodansha.Google Scholar
Sato, I. (2007), ‘Welfare regime theories and the Japanese housing system’, in Hirayama, Y. and Ronald, R. (eds), Housing and Social Transition in Japan, London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Saunders, P. (1990), A Nation of Home Owners, London: Unwin Hyman.Google Scholar
Shirahase, S. (ed.) (2006), Henkasuru Shakai no Fubyodo [Changing Social Inequalities], Tokyo: Tokyo University Press.Google Scholar
Tachibanaki, T. (2006), Kakusa Shakai [Gap Society], Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten.Google Scholar
Takegawa, S. (1999), Shakai seisaku no nakano gendai [Welfare State and Welfare Society: Challenges for Social Policy], Tokyo: Tokyo University Press.Google Scholar
Takegawa, S. (2005), ‘Japan's welfare-state regime: welfare politics, provider and regulator’, Development and Society, 34: 2, 169–90.Google Scholar
Torgersen, U. (1987), ‘Housing: the wobbly pillar under the welfare state’, in Turner, B., Kemeny, J. and Lundqvist, L. (eds), Between State and Market: Housing in the Post-Industrial Era, Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksell International.Google Scholar
Uzuhashi, T. (ed.) (2003), Hikaku no nakano fukushi kokka [Comparative Perspectives on Welfare States], Kyoto: Mineruva Shobo.Google Scholar
Watanabe, M. (2004), ‘Fukushi shihonsyugi no kiki to kazokusyugi no mirai’ [‘Welfare capitalism and the future of familism’], Keizai Riron [Political Economy Quarterly], 41: 2, 3–14.Google Scholar
Yamada, M. (1999), Parasaito Shinguru no Jidai [The Time of Parasite Singles], Tokyo: Chikuma Shobo.Google Scholar
Yazawa, S. (1996), ‘Jenda to toshi kyoju’ [‘Gender and urban housing’], in Kishimoto, Y. and Suzuki, A. (eds), Gendai Kyoju: Kazoku to Jukyo [Modern Housing Policy: Family and Housing], Tokyo: Tokyo University Press.Google Scholar
Yokoyama, F. (2002), Sengo Nihon no Josei Seisaku [Public Policy for Women in Postwar Japan], Tokyo: Keiso Shobo.Google Scholar
Yui, Y. (2004), ‘Daitoshi niokeru shinguru josei no manshon konyu to sono haikei’ [‘Condominium purchase by single women in large cities’], in Yui, Y., Kamiya, H., Wakabayashi, Y. and Nakazawa, T. (eds), Hataraku Josei no Toshi Kukan [Urban Space and Working Women], Tokyo: Kokin Shoten.Google Scholar
Yui, Y. (2006), ‘Jenda kara mita jutaku mondai’ [‘Gender and the housing problem’], Kakei Keizai Kenkyu [Research on Household Economics], 69: 28–37.Google Scholar