Japanese women

From behind the normally silent walls of the Imperial Palace, came a noise that the Japanese had never heard before.

It was a cry from the Crown princess, and she was not happy. OK not literally. But the message emerged - and it hasn't been contradicted - that she was frustrated, depressed even. Here was a modern woman trapped by unrealistic expectations dating from a bygone era.

More striking still is that in Japan, she appears not to be alone. Women are growing increasingly restive, no longer prepared to tolerate the submissive role that tradition dictates. They are rejecting duty and motherhood in their millions; the birth-rate is plummeting and the masters, the men, don't know what to do.

Jonathan Head reported.

JONATHAN HEAD:
Junko Tameda is taking her first steps in flamenco. Like most of the other students here, she is a professional in her 30s, and she's single. There is a boom in Latin dance as women seek an escape from the stifling formality of everyday life. Japan is going through a social revolution, driven by women like Junko, who are turning their backs on marriage and stamping out their own lives, free of the burden of motherhood. At the age of 32, Junko still lives with her parents. So many unmarried men and women are doing this in Japan, they have coined the term "parasite single" to describe them. Junko doesn't see herself as a parasite, though - just a young woman choosing to spend her time and money on the finer things in life. Over lunch, the family discuss her most recent holiday in New York. She loves travelling.

JUNKO TAMEDA:
[TRANSLATION]
I have worked hard to build up my freelance business as a graphic designer. I see myself as a success, so why should I be dissatisfied? I never had a strong desire to be married in my 20s, and I feel exactly the same way now.

HEAD:
Junko's parents once dreamed of a wedding and a handsome husband. Now they seem resigned to having their eldest child living with them indefinitely.

SHIGEKO TAMEDA:
[TRANSLATION]
I was very young when I got married, because that's what women were expected to do back then. My parents were conservative and they wanted to see me married by a certain age. That was my upbringing, but Junko has chosen to focus on her career and I can see it gives her great fulfilment.

KIYOSHI TAMEDA:
[TRANSLATION]
Marriage is a natural thing, in my view. If she meets someone suitable, she may still get married. If she finds a boyfriend, and perhaps six months or a year later it works out, well of course I will be happy.

HEAD:
There has been no shortage of interest from men, but Junko says none was prepared to allow her the freedoms she now enjoys. It's been three years since her last relationship.

JUNKO TAMEDA:
[TRANSLATION]
Dating a man was fun, but when I was really keen on this one guy, and we thought about marriage, he started trying to restrict me from doing all the things I love doing. Eventually, I turned him down, and I am sure I made the right decision.

HEAD:
What's wrong with Japanese men? Why is it so hard to find a good partner?

JUNKO TAMEDA:
[TRANSLATION]
Women these days are doing far more men's work, that men don't want to do anything that's traditionally considered a woman's role. That's why we find it so hard to relate to each other. I can't accept that man expects a woman to make housework a priority over her career.

HEAD:
It's Sunday afternoon and Hiroe Shibata is snatching a few precious hours of relaxation in the fashionable neighbourhood where she lives, Tokyo's equivalent of Notting Hill. Hiroe's life is a hectic one. She is a marketing manager for a multinational drugs company and she is doing a post-graduate MBA. She too is in her 30s and single. In Japan, unmarried, childless women like her have been called "loser dogs". She lives on her own in a tiny two-room apartment with no space even for a sofa. Her way of life is now the subject of intensive research by Japanese academics and advertisers trying to understand the lucrative single women's market. She sees herself as a winner, not a loser.

HIROE SHIBATA:
I don't think we are losers. We win the career. I have a career and I study for myself and that's going to help my future, so I don't think I am going to be a loser.

HEAD:
Does it make you angry when you hear that?

SHIBATA:
Not angry, but people think different ways. It's a different kind of thinking. They think having a baby or getting married is a lifetime goal, but it's not my goal. It may be a new kind of thinking but I don't want to be tied up in the kind of traditionals. I want to be what I want to be. If it's not necessary, I don't want to get married.

HEAD:
The old spirit of self-sacrifice, which kept their mothers at home, has gone, replaced by a hunger for self-satisfaction. The free-spending habits of single women now support a huge market for luxury goods. Brands like Prada and Louis Vuitton run more shops here than in any other country. There are also more dogs today in Japan than children. This one is called Bebe. There is no longer any shame in living without a husband or children. Japan's birth rate has now fallen to one of the lowest in the world. Its population is ageing and shrinking.

KEIKO AOKI:
[TRANSLATION]
When I talk to this dog, I feel like I am the mother of Bebe. When I go out, I always ask, "Do you want to come with mum?" This is my child. I think the number of women who want to have a child, but not a husband, has increased. A dog is a substitute for a child.

HEAD:
The estrangement of men and women is the subject of endless humour on the morning TV chat shows. Here a frustrated wife despairs of her worthless husband. For half a century, Japan built the world's most successful industrial society on the back of a relentless work ethic which rigidly separated the roles of men and women. Women were tied to looking after the home and children. But the Japanese salaryman was expected to devote every waking hour to his company, even if that meant being a stranger to his own family. It's a formula which is now being rejected by younger women in their millions, leaving the more traditionally minded men bewildered and confused. In desperation, these young men have formed a group calling themselves The Cherry Boys. A throwback to a bygone age of chivalry, they have taken a vow of chastity until they find the woman of their dreams. They are seeking solace in the romantic plot of the Puccini opera Manon Lescaut.

SHINKICHI WATANABE:
[TRANSLATION]
Women are much more forward these days. There was a time when they used to walk one step behind men. That still happened when my parents were young, but now they are racing ahead and we can't keep up with them.

HEAD:
Why is it so difficult for guys like you to meet suitable women today in Japan?

KOICHIRO HIROTA:
[TRANSLATION]
It's difficult. I often wonder about that myself. Perhaps I am a bit distanced from women.

TOMOYA KUMAGAI:
[TRANSLATION]
We can survive even if we don't have girlfriends. There are a lot of alternatives available now, like the internet. In the old days, people made a real effort for love. But love just isn't special any more.

HEAD:
There is a very different ideal of a woman which still has a pervasive hold on the mind of Japanese men. Ichimiyo is a maiko, a trainee geisha, one of a few hundred who still work in the city of Kyoto. Today she is joined by Sumie, who has come to watch her prepare for an evening serving and entertaining men. The two 16-year-olds swap make-up tips. As trainees, they live away from their families and receive only their board and lodging. A professional dresser arrives to help complete Ichimiyo's transformation from giggling teenager to an ornamented male fantasy. In five years, she will be able to charge powerful clients thousands of pounds for just a few hours in the world of old-style deference the geishas offer. Their own view of their profession, though, is surprisingly hard-headed.

ICHIMIYO, MAIKO:
[TRANSLATION]
When I told my friends out of the blue that I was going to become a maiko, they said, "What are you talking about? Are you crazy?"

SUMIE, TRAINEE GEISHA:
[TRANSLATION]
At first, my friend, my parents and my teachers were against it, but now they are all behind me.

ICHIMIYO:
[TRANSLATION]
Our job is not just to say "yes, yes, yes". That's boring. Our job is to make the customers feel comfortable. I think the image of us as submissive is a wrong one.

HEAD:
Marriage seems to be going out of fashion here in Japan. Is that true of other girls your age?

ICHIMIYO:
[TRANSLATION]
I don't know why. Do you know?

SUMIE:
[TRANSLATION]
People just want to do their own thing these days.

ICHIMIYO:
[TRANSLATION]
I think maybe women are stronger now.

HEAD:
Geishas for many men still embody perfect feminine qualities of grace and compliance. No wonder so many male politicians then can't work out why modern women are rejecting marriage. The government has several action plans promoting childcare, paternity leave and shorter working hours, but they are not taken seriously by a public which has heard a former prime minister tell women to stay at home and breed.

HIROKO MIZUSHIMA MP
DEMOCRATIC PARTY:
They still think that if mothers stay home, they can make more babies. I think actually they are not so interested in this issue. Well, suddenly they are shocked by the birth rate, and they think Japanese people will diminish or disappear, and suddenly they get panicked, but usually they are not interested in those things.

HEAD:
That view is shared by millions of Japanese. On this issue, the government has a serious credibility problem.

TAKUMI NEMOTO MP
COUNCIL FOR BIRTHRATE DECLINE:
[TRANSLATION]
We know the declining birth rate is very serious. I have been working on it for ten years, so it's a pity if people misunderstand what the government is trying to do. I think our policies have got better over the years, but it's important that we present them more clearly to the public.

HEAD:
The toughest challenge will be changing Japan's working culture. These men have given years of loyal service to their companies. Now they are trying to make the difficult adjustment from office to home. Recently retired salarymen are called "fallen wet leaves" by their wives because they are so useless at home. Divorce rates are rising faster in this age group than any other.

TOSHIMITSU HONDA:
[TRANSLATION]
You see, if you only say, "Dinner, bath and bed" after you come home from work, your wife will run away from you.

HEAD:
Is your wife very pleased that you are learning to cook?

NOBORU MOCHIZUKI:
Yes, and she respects me because she thinks independence is important for the future life.

HEAD:
The yawning gulf that exists between modern Japanese women and old-fashioned male values is being mirrored by an extraordinary drama being played out here at the Imperial Palace. Behind these fortress-like walls, an independent-minded Crown Princess is battling against the Royal household's very traditional expectations of her as a woman. She was married into the Royal Family to produce an heir, and she has. The trouble is only men can occupy this antiquated throne and Princess Masako has been under intense pressure from the Palace to have a son. The Oxford and Harvard-educated diplomat is said to be isolated and suffering from depression. The government has now been forced to think the unthinkable - the possibility of allowing a woman to succeed the throne. Japan's women are better educated than they have ever been. They want more from a society that's one of the wealthiest in the world. They want fun, they want freedom, and they want to avoid the kinds of marriages their mothers had. No room for marriage right now?

SHIBATA:
No.

HEAD:
Or children?

SHIBATA:
No.

HEAD:
Traditions are being challenged here like never before. Women are leading the way, and waiting for the men to catch up.

WATANABE:
[TRANSLATION]
I live on my own, so I have learned how to cook. I like cleaning my home. It may sound a bit arrogant, but I think I would make a good husband!

HEAD:
Unless there's a meeting of minds between Japanese women and men over how they live and bring up a family together, the population will age, and it will fall. Japan's hard-won economic achievements could also be lost.

---

This transcript was produced from the teletext subtitles that are generated live for Newsnight. It has been checked against the programme as broadcast, however Newsnight can accept no responsibility for any factual inaccuracies. We will be happy to correct serious errors.