Comments on: Ministry of Health releases marriage stats

By: Mutantfrog

Mutantfrog — Tue, 30 Jan 2007 04:21:23 +0000

Here is a very good reason for couples to divorce instead of just separate. Separation ends less than half of spouse abuse: poll I imagine its a lot harder to get police protection from a guy you are still married to, even if in name only.

By: Jade Oc

Jade Oc — Tue, 30 Jan 2007 03:08:37 +0000

Conversely, how many Japanese couples “live together in sin”? Is that recorded?

By: Joe

Joe — Mon, 29 Jan 2007 22:45:00 +0000

Of course, “divorce” is a formalistic device anyway. Many Japanese couples separate but never bother to divorce, and separations are not recorded so there’s no way to count them.

By: M-Bone

M-Bone — Mon, 29 Jan 2007 19:47:08 +0000

“Perhaps there is a larger group of women marrying both Commonwealth-born native English speakers (other than the UK which makes the list at 4%).”

I’m Canadian and I married a Japanese woman in 2005. Funny to see a Japan statistic that I am a part of….

As for the coming “jukunen rikon” boom – there was a significant feature on it in Bungei Shunju a few months ago that supports Curzon’s interpretation.

By: Ken

Ken — Mon, 29 Jan 2007 19:30:01 +0000

I think Curzon’s right here. Plenty of women have supposedly been holding off for this new law to take effect. We’ll probably see lines at city offices once the law takes effect…though I wonder how fault works into this whole game and whether this might be a boon for the private detective business…

By: Curzon

Curzon — Mon, 29 Jan 2007 15:28:05 +0000

Sudden spike and gradual increase. Lots of divorces that should have happened in 2005 and 2006 will occur in 2007 because of the change in the law, and as more and more women realize they have the financial and economic freedom to lose their husband, they will.

By: Garrett

Garrett — Mon, 29 Jan 2007 13:13:57 +0000

Do you really think there’s going to be a sudden spike in divorce numbers or do you think it’s more likely that we’ll see a gradual increase over time with the pension split being but one of many factors?

By: Curzon

Curzon — Mon, 29 Jan 2007 11:32:58 +0000

The drop in divorces is misleaing: plenty of unhappy women were waiting for this year, when housewives who divorce will be eligible to receive a portion of their working husband’s pension.

By: Adamu

Adamu — Mon, 29 Jan 2007 10:55:50 +0000

The explanation i hear the most is the rising age of first marriages. The young population is shrinking as well, but I don’t think the shrinkage is significant enough to put as much of a damper on the absolute number of marriages.

By: Bryce

Bryce — Mon, 29 Jan 2007 10:40:41 +0000

Is the falling number of marriages a product of the aging society, or something else?