Neoliberalism in the Womb: Japan’s Answer to its Baby Shortage Panic
Japan-based feminist scholar, Dr. Isabel Fassbender, discusses her new book, Active Pursuit of Pregnancy: Neoliberalism, Postfeminism and the Politics of Reproduction in Contemporary Japan, and how a toxic mix of patriarchy, biomedical capitalism, and nationalism has emerged in response to Japan’s slightly declining population.
As a country whose ecological footprint is nearly 8 times its biocapacity, and whose citizens chronically suffer from a culture of overwork and socio-economic and political disempowerment, Japan should be welcoming a decline in its population. However, in keeping with its lowest rank on the gender equality index among industrialized countries, Japan has instead created a sense of panic around the declining birth rate, and has employed a series of exploitative tactics to compel Japanese women to produce more babies.
By joining forces with the multi-billion dollar fertility industry, Japanese politicians have infiltrated the mass media and the education system to teach young women about the importance of family and reproduction; meanwhile, the quality of sex education, abortion provision, and reproductive rights remains abysmally poor. Isabel is empowering her college students to think critically about these rigid gender and pronatalist norms and to become politically engaged to confront them.
MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:
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Isabel Fassbender 0:00
So, there are all these very rigid frameworks surrounding families. The discussion is very complex and the issues are very complex. However, in the end, the conclusion is always, okay, we have to solve the issue of the low birth rate, not in order to make better socio-economic circumstances, huge gender gap, cultural norms, economic inequalities, overwork, extremely high costs for education and so on - solving all these issues, not in order to make a more equal, more sustainable society, but to have more babies. And it is a very nationalistic, sometimes even racist discourse because it is about more Japanese babies.
Alan Ware 0:50
That was Dr. Isabel Fassbender, a feminist scholar who researches and teaches about the politics of reproduction, family and gender issues in Japan. We'll hear more from Isabel in this episode of the Overpopulation Podcast.
Nandita Bajaj 1:13
Welcome to the Overpopulation Podcast where we tirelessly make ecological overshoot and overpopulation common knowledge. That's the first step in right-sizing the scale of our human footprint so that it is in balance with life on Earth, enabling all species to thrive. I'm Nandita Bajaj, co-host of the podcast and executive director of Population Balance.
Alan Ware 1:37
I'm Alan Ware, co-host of the podcast and researcher with Population Balance, the first and only nonprofit organization globally that draws the connections between pronatalism, human supremacy, and ecological overshoot and offers solutions to address their combined impacts on the planet, people, and animals.
Nandita Bajaj 1:57
And before we introduce our guest today, we'd like to share a major update about a project we've been working on for the last few months that we've just rolled out. It's about a recent film called Birthgap - Childless World, which sets out to understand why birth rates have been falling across the industrialized world and how to "engineer" a solution to the alleged crisis of "population collapse". Though the filmmaker Steven Shaw gets one thing right, the birth rates over the last several decades have been falling, the rest of the film is filled with unsubstantiated assertions about how a population collapse due to declining fertility rates is imminent, and that rising childlessness is to blame for this, what he calls, a crisis. Over the last several months the Population Balance team along with a number of researchers and advocates has worked on fact-checking this film and we found a multitude of errors, In response we have launched a website, Birthgapfacts.org. The project consists of six simple fact sheets that debunk the claims in the film, such as the causes of childlessness and fertility decline and the panic around the so-called population collapse.
Alan Ware 3:18
And even though the filmmaker Steven Shaw has no credentials, in demography or family planning, he's been making the rounds and a lot of right-wing pronatalist podcasts spreading depopulation panic. And what's even more concerning is that he recently gave a keynote speech at the Budapest Demographic Summit. For those not familiar, this Summit run by the increasingly authoritarian and severely pronatalist government of Viktor Orban, was attended by very conservative far right politicians and prominent figures, such as US tech billionaire Elon Musk, who's one of the most influential propagandists for depopulation panic in the world. The increasing alarmism around this poses a huge threat to reproductive rights, and our team is both monitoring and pushing back against this rhetoric. So check out our project, Birthgapfacts.org to learn more. We've added a link in the show notes. We've also added a link to a recent op-ed we got published in CounterPunch about this project and the more widespread rise in coercive pronatalism. And please share this project and our accompanying op ed widely and post a link to these anywhere you see such pronatalist propaganda being spread. And now on to today's guest, Isabel Fassbender, who was also one of the contributors to the Birthgapfacts project.
Nandita Bajaj 4:41
Isabelle is currently an assistant professor at Kansai Gaidai University in Osaka, Japan, mainly teaching in the Asian Studies program. After receiving her bachelor's in Japanese Studies at the University of Zurich in 2011, Isabel came to Japan where she obtained her M.A. in 2014 and her PhD in 2020 from Tokyo University of Foreign Studies, which makes this her 12th year living in Japan. In her research, she has been focusing on the politics of reproduction, family and gender issues in Japan. Her first monograph is titled Active Pursuit of Pregnancy: Neoliberalism, Postfeminism and the Politics of Reproduction in Contemporary Japan, published with Brill in 2022. And now on to our interview.
Hi, Isabelle. We are so delighted to chat with you today about your research, which dovetails really nicely with our work which confronts pronatalism and depopulation panic. And it's especially fascinating in the context of Japan, a country with a slightly declining population. It's been wonderful getting to know you over the last few months while working together on the Birthgapfacts project, the main purpose of which was to calm the fears around fertility decline alarmism. We're excited to dig deeper into your research and also your experience of living in Japan. Welcome to our podcast.
Isabel Fassbender 6:11
Thank you so much. I'm so happy to be here today. Thank you for inviting me. It's really an honor. And I'm very much looking forward to the conversation,
Nandita Bajaj 6:19
Likewise. So let's start with a brief background on the cultural climate in Japan. In your book, Active Pursuit of Pregnancy: Neoliberalism, Postfeminism and the Politics of Reproduction in Contemporary Japan, you describe how the Japanese government, industry and media have worked together to create a greater sense of urgency around something called ninkatsu in Japanese, which translated to English means the active pursuit of pregnancy which is also the name of your book. Before delving more deeply into your findings in the book, we'd like to start with an overview of the situation in Japan right now that has given rise to much of this recent push for this active pursuit of pregnancy. Many of our listeners will be familiar with the many stories and mainstream media outside of Japan about the smaller family sizes and the declining population of Japan. And the media coverage and commentary of this takes on a tone of depopulation panic, that it's a near catastrophe for any country's population to ever be declining, no matter how slowly. And you've been living in Japan for about 12 years now. How is the fact of Japan's small population decline framed by Japanese mainstream media? And what's the general tone of conversation in Japanese society around this decline?
Isabel Fassbender 6:26
Yeah, so in public discourse in daily conversation, in media, also in an academic context, actually, and of course, also in a political context, there is no room for a question that this is the main issue of contemporary Japan that it has to be solved, that there is immense urgency surrounding this problem. So this is something that I always find quite, yes, surprising and interesting, at what point also people who usually are very critical about social issues who try to take a more balanced view, are also not able to or don't see that there might be also another perspective to this issue. So there is no question that this is the problem that has to be solved with every means. And any method available. Basically, when we talk about the low birth rate, these issues are always only discussed in the context of the low birth rate. So basically, we have to solve all these issues in order for people to be able to have more babies. At the same time, of course, there's a lot of pressure. So even though there are people who might want children and are not able to because of specific socio-economic, socio-political circumstances, there are also many who are clearly pressured into having children, even though they might not necessarily make that choice without this very rigid framework of what a family can be. Even though, of course, Japanese society is changing. There are changing ideas surrounding family. The institution of marriage is still extremely important. So only 2% of children are born out of wedlock. And also people who do get married, most of them have children. So I think at this point, only 7% of people who get married don't have children. So there are all these very rigid frameworks surrounding families. The discussion is very complex and the issues are very complex. However, in the end, the conclusion is always, okay, we have to solve the issue of the low birth rate, not in order to make a better socio-economic circumstances, huge gender gap, cultural frameworks, cultural norms, economic inequalities, overwork, extremely high cost for education, and so on and so on, solving all these issues not in order to make a more equal or a better, more sustainable society, but to have more babies. And another point is, it is a very nationalistic or sometimes even racist discourse, because it is about more Japanese babies. So it is also a fear or perceived sort of panic surrounding the idea that, oh, Japan might become a immigration country, we don't want that. There is this idea of purity, of having to preserve Japanese culture. And that only being possible with more Japanese babies, basically. Of course in many countries that have lower birth rates, this sense of panic has a very different context, because there is immigration, and there is a more fluid understanding of who is a member of society. However, in Japan, that is not the case and political discourse is very clearly not encouraging immigration, not encouraging the idea of Japan being a more diverse society in the context of ethnicity, even though in reality, there is a lot of immigration in Japan. And always we talk about, we need more workers. They only always talk about, we need more human resources. But those human resources are not supposed to stay or basically settle in Japan. They're supposed to come here, contribute to economic growth, and then leave basically. That is the goal. So I think these issues of nationalism of ideas of pureness in culture, pureness in Japaneseness. And this whole panic surrounding the low birth rate, and also the panic surrounding this idea of all the Japanese family, as it was, is collapsing. So that means Japanese society, as it was, is collapsing. So all these ideas are very much intertwined. And we have to understand that in connection, of course of why and how these problems have to be solved.
Nandita Bajaj 12:49
Right. Well, thank you. You covered so many topics that we want to unpack with you today: the culture of patriarchy, gender inequality, people being seen as human resources, nationalism. Those are so topical, because that's something we're seeing in a lot of other Western countries as well. And ecologically speaking, you know, we were digging up some numbers. And it's so fascinating that Japan's ecological footprint, which basically just means how much nature is needed to support people and their economies, is nearly eight times its biocapacity, which which is what nature can actually offer it. Studies estimate that Japan imports more than 60% of their food calories that sustain the population. Japan has over three times the population of California with a very similar geographic area size. So, ecologically speaking, Japan is so far in ecological overshoot, that it should be welcoming a slight decline in its population. And we're not seeing that. As you said, the focus tends to be entirely on economic growth as the key metric of success, not the well being, not ecological sustainability, etc.
Alan Ware 14:09
We also talked with Vegard Skirbekk, a health economist that mentioned that the Japanese 76 year old is as healthy as the average global 65 year old. So it's quite a healthy elderly population, which would be very advantageous as they move into this decline. But what you're telling us sounds very much like they're panicked. Do you hear many environmentalists on the left talk about the benefits of this?
Isabel Fassbender 14:38
No, actually, that is a conversation that is, I would say, close to non-existent in Japan. So, this idea of ecological footprint, that actually there's an overshoot in Japan, generally, issues in the context of the environment are very much underrepresented in Japan on a daily basis. I mean, if you go to supermarket in Japan, I mean, every single banana is put in plastic. Packaging is a catastrophe. I mean, I can't go to the supermarket without basically ending up in tears afterwards, because it's a disaster. I mean, of course, there are groups that are very active. There are people that are trying to bring these issues forward and make this a more central discussion. But that is very minor. And these are just really a few people. I think one thing is really that culture of overwork. In Japan, people just don't have time to think about these issues. And I mean, that is strategic. I mean, in general, in capitalism, if you have too much people who have time to actually actively engage with the society that they're living in, it wouldn't work. Specifically in Japan, I mean, the whole education system already, is designed to avoid that people would engage actively in politics or to develop a sociological imagination to make connections between personal issues with the more macro level. But of course, that doesn't mean that all people in Japan are passive and not engaging. Of course, there are many people who are fighting and who are politically active, but the society is clearly designed like that. And back to how this question of the slightly declining birthrate is being framed. Yeah, it's always just framed in the context of economic growth. There is no question that economic growth is good and necessary, and that we need more of it. And this idea that it might be beneficial for Japan to have a slightly smaller population, I've almost never heard anyone dare to say that. On the surface, the panic is mainly surrounding the pension system in Japan, that there are not enough young people to support the pension system. But in the end, I mean, it is about not having enough consumers to support this hyper-capitalism. And I think that's the case in many contexts, right? We need more consumers to keep up this crazy culture of consumerism of buying more things and then throwing them out.
Nandita Bajaj 17:26
Right. I think Japan presents as a very unique example, probably similar, also to Korea, because of the reasons for fertility decline in Japan are a little bit different than reasons for fertility decline in some of the more northern European countries that are also experiencing similar lower birth rates for reasons you have mentioned, like traditional values, you know, socio-economic, disempowerment, overworkism, etc, but also a real lack of gender equality. So in that context, in your book, Active Pursuit of Pregnancy, you discuss that in addition to economic forces, there are many social and cultural forces that have led Japanese people to have fewer children, some of which by choice, some of which, because of lack of choice. What are those social values surrounding this declining fertility? You've kind of mentioned them, but if you can explain it in a little bit more detail of what that gender inequality looks like.
Isabel Fassbender 18:34
Yes. In general, we can say there is a very limited understanding, and also a very limited institutional framework of family, what a family can be. So one example is there is up until today, no same sex marriage in Japan. So it's a very heteronormative model of family. Also, what I mentioned before, of course, this idea that marriage is paramount and that only marriage can ensure family building. Basically getting married means having children. And, within this limited framework of family, we still see a very gendered expectations of who has what role in that family. So the male breadwinner model is persistent in Japan. Of course, women are incited to contribute to economic growth, to be shining women in the economy. There is this term which means shining women, but that means in the context of the economy and contributing to the economy as one of the pillars of economic growth. But, at the same time, women are also still expected to be mainly responsible both for child rearing and for household chores, which of course goes hand in hand with this male breadwinner model which is not changing at all. I mean, if we look at data in most families, at least where there are children, women are working, but are often working only in part time jobs or in some kind of irregular or unstable position, which also makes them economically quite vulnerable. So, there are also many other things. For example, I think Japan is the only country in the world where you have to choose one surname when you get married. So you cannot choose separate surnames, for example, which also kind of is very symbolic, I think, within this context of limited family norms. There is no shared custody upon divorce, there is so called Koseki system of family registration system, which is also highly gendered and limits very much what family can be. All that means that for women, especially having a family and having children is an extremely high risk, a high social risk. So in Japan, when people with children get divorced, in 90% of the cases, the mother gets custody. However, the divorce system is very informal. And often, the women are then the ones who are also economically responsible alone for the children, even though even before they got divorced, they found themselves in unstable employment. So over or around 50% of single mothers in Japan lives below the poverty line. And more and more of marriages end in divorce also in Japan, so one in three marriages on average ends in divorce. However, then often women are at risk, basically to have to raise their children alone and end up working, but in poverty.
Alan Ware 22:09
So a woman married with children would be expected to do I think this is in your book, the quadruple shift of paid work, household chores, child rearing and taking care of their husbands. And the Japanese men work more hours than men in any of the OECD countries, I think. That becomes quite a load for really both of them to carry in different ways.
Isabel Fassbender 22:35
Exactly. I mean, often we talk about women basically as the victims in this system. And yes, that is, of course true. But men are equally victims in this system of overwork. And also if we look at data, many men who are fathers do say that they would like to be more active in child rearing and household chores. But they are not able to do to this work culture that does not really allow for more sustainable work-life balance. I mean, work life balance is a huge key word in Japan, but it is mainly a paper tiger. I mean, just yesterday, I read the news that many people who work in corporate positions or who are self employed would like to sleep six hours, but more than half of them are not able to and I mean, six hours, that's not that much. So there's also a generally chronic lack in sleep. And I mean, that sounds very unimportant. But I think that is very symbolic in this society. And then people at the same time are being asked to be more self responsible and to be autonomous in their decisions. And within these circumstances.
Nandita Bajaj 23:50
Yeah, it's a toxic mix of so many things, that the patriarchal pressures to follow strict gender roles, or the capitalistic pressures to overwork and not be able to really be available for anything that may be of interest; including being with a partner, including having children, if that is something that you desire. But it also sounds like the possibility or the acceptance of non- traditional roles is not even available. Something that we've talked to other guests when it comes to pronatalist cultures, the desire for certain things, whether it's family and children is very much related to the construct within the culture. So you cannot really separate desire from the pressure to conform and what things you must do in order to belong within that culture.
Alan Ware 24:49
Yeah, and as you've mentioned, in response to all of these economic and cultural factors we've been talking about that encouraged smaller families, there has been a promotion of ninkatsu, or the active pursuit of pregnancy from powerful institutions in Japanese society like government, the biomedical industry and mainstream media? How would you describe ninkatsu in broad terms? And what is the history of what seems to be a relatively recent idea?
Isabel Fassbender 25:18
Yes. Thank you very much for the question. I mean, that goes hand in hand with what Nandita also just said, this culture of pronatalism and this pressure and I think, yeah, ninkatsu is symbolic in that context. So ninkatsu is, of course, just one response in the context here of pronatalism and this panic surrounding the low birth rate. And many people would not even be aware of the fact that it is very much connected to pronatalism, because it is such a common word now that you hear in everyday conversations, but I do think that it is a very symbolic discourse. So in ninkatsu the word itself is connected to other discourses in Japan, that basically incite the individual to be proactive about their life plan. So katsudo means activity and ninshin means pregnancy. And then short, it is ninkatsu. There are many other discourses like that that include this Chinese character katsu, so activity. I think at the beginning it was shukatsu, which means job hunting. And that is also quite interesting. So you have job hunting shukatsu, and then from around 2008, the discourse of konkatsu which means marriage activity or marriage hunting that appeared - to basically encourage people to be more proactive about finding a partner. As I said before, marriage and having children is also closely intertwined in Japan. So we cannot separate that. So that was also connected to this panic of Oh, less people are getting married, less people are having children. So we need to encourage people. So this discourse of konkatsu appeared. And then a little bit later in 2011, ninkatsu appeared, and actually ninkatsu was in the beginning, just a simple marketing strategy of a pharmaceutical company to improve the image of fertility treatments of assisted reproductive technology in Japan. The background of that is that this pharmaceutical company, which is a market leader in fertility treatments worldwide, did a survey, an international survey of couples dealing with fertility issues. And Japan was also included in that survey. And it appeared that apparently, people in Japan have a very low level of knowledge about issues in the context of fertility. That was one outcome. And that was also the outcome that was pushed in the media, people don't know about the fact that you can only have children until a certain age. That was the takeaway in the media afterwards. However, another outcome, if you take a closer look at that survey, was that the image of fertility treatments is relatively negative. However, the needs in Japanese society for fertility treatments are very high. So that was the outcome. And basically, ninkatsu started as a marketing campaign to improve this image in response to that. However, of course, they said, yeah, people don't know enough about it. We have to promote this idea of people being more proactive in reproductive life planning because they just don't know about it. So we have to give them more information. And this is basically where this company approached one of the biggest publishing houses in Japan. And they started this media campaign of ninkatsu. In the beginning, they published a special edition of a women's magazine that they titled ninkatsu and there they promoted this idea of, okay, young women have to gather more knowledge about pregnancy and especially about adequate as they called it, the adequate reproductive age. The other point was, people need more correct medical knowledge because people are having children later and later and this is just because they don't know that there are limitations in reproductive age. So this was basically the tenor of that. However, if you look at that magazine, around 1/5 I think was dedicated to advertisement for infertility clinics, basically, and all kinds of information surrounding fertility treatments. At the same time, it also meant a normalization to a point where having children or trying to have a child would equal undergoing fertility treatments. And it was also a very, very successful campaign because now around one in 13, 14 children in Japan is born with the help of IVF, or other high grade assisted reproductive technologies. I think that's even higher than Israel. So in that sense, it was very successful. One more thing that I want to mention is how it was marketed in the mass media. So the mass media didn't say, of course, yeah, this is, in fact, just a marketing strategy. In the mass media, it was kind of this empowerment discourse, women are taking their own bodies back to their own hands, making their own decision, preparing themselves for future pregnancy. And it was really this discourse of choice, actually, of women now having more information, more access to information, there's more discussion. So being proactive about reproductive choices, this is basically how it was framed in mass media. So that's why I said before, most people would not be aware that this has anything to do with pronatalism, or that it was actually in the beginning a marketing strategy. So it's a very catchy keyword, ninkatsu. People are using this in everyday language now to describe their situation when they're trying to get pregnant, yeah, but often also in the context of undergoing fertility treatments. But of course, it's also a huge pressure point. I mean, there were, in some women's magazines, there were these kind of self tests, what is your pregnancy power? So they call this ninshin-ryoku, ryoku means power, or force and some contexts? So you could answer questions. Yeah. Do I get enough sleep? Do I eat properly? How old am I? Am I married? and all these kinds of things, to measure your circumstances, if you are in a position to have children on a social, economic, but also on a physical level. So it became a very physical discourse. It also kind of took away the critique on the social circumstances that we have been talking about before, and took it to a physical, individual level.
Nandita Bajaj 32:52
Right, which is where you talk about this intersection of capitalism with neoliberalism. And you've used terms like reproductive entrepreneur, in describing even this kind of a magazine test. It's like, are you powerful enough?, making it look like they're giving you the ultimate power to be informed to decide, but only within a very small context. Can you talk a little bit more about the entrepreneur piece? How does that concept enter this neoliberal aspect of marketing?
Isabel Fassbender 33:28
Yeah, so I framed this term of the reproductive entrepreneur. Of course, that's not my idea entirely. That is, of course, based on these ideas of government of the self, where in our society, at least, there's the illusion of we are not being controlled, but we are incited to control ourselves, to manage ourselves to. Ulrich Brockling, who's a German sociologist, he wrote an amazing book titled, The Entrepreneurial Self, where he really, yeah, engages with this idea of we are excited to become entrepreneurs of our own life. We have to manage ourselves, our bodies, our circumstances, within, of course, very unfavorable socio economic, environmental circumstances, but we still, as individuals, in neoliberalism, self responsibly have to overcome these hurdles. And this is this idea of the the entrepreneurial self. And of course, if you fail, that is your responsibility. You just didn't do enough planning. You just weren't well prepared enough. That is your fault. It's not society's fault. I mean, yes, that's the ideology of neoliberalism. And the reproductive entrepreneur translates this idea, basically to the realm of reproduction, and shows exactly how out this control, this pronatalist, in this very context here of Japan, control works. There is no one telling you, "you should have three children otherwise, this or this happens" as it was actually the case also in Japan in war times where people were asked to beget and multiply for the country. So, Japan is also very careful, just because of that history. So, you are not forced. It is you who makes the choice. We are giving you the information, but you have to do the managing. You have to become a reproductive entrepreneur. And one more element that I'm mentioning that is important in that context is, of course, the huge variety of services. And here, we can make the connection to capitalism, that you of course pay for, to be able to be successful in your project as a reproductive entrepreneur. So you can buy supplements. I mean, buying these magazines itself, there are applications for your smartphone where you can organize your day in order basically, to increase your fertility to eat better, and stuff like that. But of course, ultimately, also the service of assisted reproductive technology. And if we remember that ninkatsu is actually, or was in the beginning, purely a marketing strategy, that is no surprise at all. So you have these elements of ostensible empowerment, this neoliberal idea of self responsibility, overcoming hurdles, amongst very unfavorable circumstances within the reproductive realm. And within these, as you said, very limited possibilities of what family can be. And then also, of course, the services and biomedical services, especially. And one more thing that I want to mention is that often the idea of happiness is very central in that context. So why are you engaging in all these efforts to become a reproductive entrepreneur and to make all these efforts to make your own life circumstances more favorable within unfavorable circumstances? And that is always happiness. The pressure point is always happiness. So in order to be a successful member in society, I mean, that is, in the end, the goal, of course, I mean, to be successful, and that includes having a family, having children in this context. But, of course, that wouldn't be very convincing. And this happiness in the end, is, of course, aligning you with neoliberal capitalist market dynamics, right? So consuming, buying a house, buying a car, all these become products of consumption in the end, and the goal is individual happiness. What happens around that, society is producing more and more inequalities, that with our consumption, we are destroying the planet, no one thinks about that, right? Because you only have to think about your own happiness. And I think that is extremely important here in this context of ninkatsu, but also in general, how neoliberalism and our capitalist society works.
Nandita Bajaj 38:35
I just find it so interesting, whether it's related to sperm count, whether it's related to delayed marriage or delayed childbirth, the focus is almost entirely on the empowerment of people in order to get them to have more babies. When you look at real, true empowerment, you would think, well, there would be a real emphasis on work-life balance, and gender equality, the role that men and women are playing both within domestic labor sharing but also labor participation would be more or less equal. But as we know from the OECD report, Japan has the lowest level of gender equality of the 38 OECD countries. Japan was ranked 116th out of 146 countries in last year's Global Gender Gap Report. So the degree of exploitation and manipulation that is happening at the hands of these biomedical industries, which is a multi-billion dollar industry, to me, it's both frightening and fascinating at the same time,
Isabel Fassbender 39:47
in general, in neoliberalism, the personal is political is being turned around, right? The political is being made into a personal issue that the individual has to overcome, even though it is, of course, impossible because you have a specific framework and you have so many limitations. And then the individuals being told, okay, yeah, but you have to be empowered, you have to empower yourself to be able to survive within this craziness, basically.
Nandita Bajaj 40:17
Right.
Alan Ware 40:18
Yeah, and as you've mentioned, Japan is one of the world leaders in assisted reproductive technology. And you've mentioned in your book that it takes on the role of reinforcing hetero-normativity and the ideology of the modern family. Could you unpack that for us?
Isabel Fassbender 40:35
So access to these technologies is limited to married couples. Recently, there was a slight change that also so-called common law marriages, where people are living together as a married couple and also registered, however not married officially, these couples might be able to access the technologies. However, most people wouldn't choose that, because as I also said before, there is no joint custody in Japan. So if you have a child and you're not married, it becomes quite complicated. This idea of blood related family is something that is being reinforced and reproduced through these technologies. Another thing is also that adoption is very uncommon in Japan. I mean, here, it becomes a little bit complicated again, but there are two types of adoption. There's adult adoption in Japan, which is called normal adoption. And then unrelated child adoption, only introduced in the late 1980s, as a kind of application of what we in the so-called western context would understand as adoption, usually. And that form is very uncommon. Adult adoption is very, very common in Japan. That is only basically used to ensure that in most cases, the male line of succession continues. So many big companies, for example, Toyota, I think they're officially a family business, but they can just do that, because they're adopting male heirs, so to say, into the company. So that is one thing. But the other form of adoption, child adoption, that is very, very uncommon. So now there are only around 600 or 700 cases per year. However, there are around 40,000 children in Japan, in institutions that are not living with their biological families and - not in all cases, of course, but in many cases - would benefit from living in a more family-like setting. So that is one huge problem. I think that there is such a focus on blood relatedness. And that, of course, then leads to many people using assisted reproductive technology in order to be able to have their own children. But at the same time adoption, even though there would be huge needs from the side of children also, that is not being endorsed at all. However, still, it's extremely expensive to adopt in Japan. There's just no lobby for adoption, or there is a small lobby, but it's not as powerful as the pharmaceutical business. So in the end, who makes money from what and from adoption, there are some of these agencies who can make a little bit of money, but it's nothing compared to the money that can be made with the pharmaceutical business with assisted reproductive technology.
Alan Ware 43:45
So the money behind the biomedical industry feeding this desire for blood ties, and doing it behind the veil of the legitimacy of science, right, as kind of a neutral power, that then the government can also use science and technology as sort of this neutral force that really has its own interest, money being a major one, right? How do you see that playing out?
Isabel Fassbender 44:12
So I think often people also when I talk about this, they misunderstand and they think I criticize people for using the technology. No, that's definitely not the point. And I do see that for some people, it might be increased choice and that it's also for some people positive that there's less stigma talking about this and talking about using this technology. However, I do find it very, very problematic that there are so little questions about the business behind it, the sort of money that's been made, the sort of ideology also that is being promoted here for people to feel pressure to use this technology to achieve the happiness of having their own children, not trying to promote a more open idea of family that is not necessarily only based on blood relatedness, that family can also be basically friends and the more open community, right? And then, of course, also this illusion of empowerment through technology, technology as being completely neutral and this intertwinedness of capitalism, patriarchy, and technology, I think that is really something that needs to be unpacked. And there needs to be room for critical discussions about that. I do understand that it is very complicated, because it is such an emotional, and also a personal realm that we are talking about. I mean, having children or not, reproductive decisions, that feels like something that should be at least very private. But of course it is not. It's, in any nation state, having children or not, is a very political decision. right? And it is also in the context of your technology, a decision embedded in capitalism and in big money.
Nandita Bajaj 46:09
Yeah. And how is ninkatsu reflected in government policies? So media is kind of pushing this advertising message on the heels of the biomedical industry. What do the policies look like?
Isabel Fassbender 46:22
So in 2013, for the first time, this physical aspect of reproduction, in the context of aging eggs, appeared in official government documents. And since then, so they really picked up this narrative. That's also a very complicated story, because in the process of deciding new measures against the low birth rate around that time, male specialists, male doctors, infertility specialists, were included in designing these countermeasures. And with that, a stronger and stronger focus on the physical aspect of reproduction kind of appeared. And in 2015, and that was also pushed by some of these experts, education was included, education about reproduction. So again, here we are back to this discourse that in the beginning, was pushed by this pharmaceutical company, people just don't know enough about reproductive issues, reproductive age, especially, and that especially was picked up by the Japanese government, because that is safe. You're not telling people, you should have more children. Again, you're just educating them. You're just giving them information. So they pick that up, and they include it in educational material for schools, for example. However, against that there was a lot of criticism, because a lot of the data they used was actually false and completely outdated. There was one set of data that suggested that the peak of reproductive age for women is at 22, and that afterwards, it basically just goes down. And this data set was based on research that took the data from 500-600 years ago, and it was completely false. And it was just, they used it, because it was, of course convenient to pressure people. So yes, there was a backlash against that. They removed this specific data set. However, the focus on, we need to educate people and we need to provide people with correct medical and scientific information as they always framed it, that hasn't changed. And there's also an increased focus on life planning. So already, young people in middle schools and high schools, were given these activities and given educational material, where they were excited to plan their lives. And yeah, at what time, at what age, do you want to get married? At what age do you want to have children? But yeah, you have to know there's a limit. So in order to be happy and have a happy family, you have to start planning now, basically. So, in general, I mean, we see, yeah, this neoliberal shift to self responsibility to this sort of nudging people into making specific decisions through the provision of education and knowledge of information.
Alan Ware 49:37
So you think with that push towards education, that sex education would be part of that that what the government would offer, right? And what is the state of sex education in Japan?
Isabel Fassbender 49:48
It's very bad. The state of sex education in Japan is quite bad. So there is no proper education in schools about various forms, of course. contraception, there is no real discussion of the concept of reproductive rights, more critical approaches to, as I said, gender norms to deconstruct the social framework of gender and society, which should also be a part of course of sex education. Also, more diverse approach to sexuality is also something that is very limited. And now, of course, with this recent push for education, there are many students who know more about assisted reproductive technology, or about the limitations of fertility than what they know about contraception. And that says a lot about the kind of information that is being provided and the kind of empowerment in reproductive decisions that is being envisioned here, of course.
Alan Ware 51:00
And you're kind of referred to it, contraception, what is the state of contraceptive use and availability in Japan?
Isabel Fassbender 51:09
So the most popular method are condoms, so 80%, if we look at contraceptive use. I mean, I think these data sets are often not very reliable, of course, but they provide some insight. And the second one that is usually in this list is the withdrawal method, which I find quite interesting as to put that in the category of contraception. The contraceptive pill in Japan is relatively unpopular. Also behind that there's a very interesting history because it was only approved as a contraceptive method in 1999, which is much later than all other industrialized countries. So also now, still, the usage of the contraceptive pill is relatively low. And there are many methods also that are not available in Japan. So basically available is the condom pill, of course, timing methods, and IUDs. However, most people are relying on condoms.
Nandita Bajaj 52:18
The other thing you mentioned was also reproductive rights conversations are not happening within these contexts, right? We've seen for example, according to the Center for Reproductive Rights, a liberalisation of abortion laws in more than 60 countries. But we've also seen some notable exceptions in this general trend - countries like the United States, Poland, etc. What is the situation of abortion rights in Japan?
Isabel Fassbender 52:49
The historical context is very different in Japan. Abortion was legalized, or at least de facto legalized, already in the late 40s. But it wasn't legalized in order to give women more choice or more reproductive freedom. It was legalized as a, first of all based on eugenic thought. And second, it was legalized in order to lower the birth rate. So again, here, it was not about empowerment, about real empowerment. It was not about more reproductive freedom. It was only in order to control population growth in that context. So again, here it makes this discussion in the context of Japan a little bit more complicated. The present state is that abortion is de facto legal; however, still a law called the so called crime of abortion. Abortion is a crime, but de facto, it is accessible and legal. And many feminists in Japan criticize this situation because in the end, there's still a sort of stigma. Also, often there is blaming women for making that decision. Also, the methods that are being used are often methods that are being classified as obsolete by the W. H. O., and medical abortion was just legalized very recently, I think it was last year. And also here, even though it would be very easily accessible and could also be very cheap because abortion in Japan is relatively expensive and health insurance doesn't cover it, so many people pushed for medical abortion because they thought it could make it more accessible and also financially more accessible for women. But that is not happening. Because even though the medication itself doesn't cost that much, people still have to go to the hospital and stay in hospital overnight and pay exactly basically the same amount as for surgical abortion, so it doesn't make it more accessible at all. Of course, no one openly would say yeah, no, we don't want it to be more accessible because the birth rate is low. I mean, of course making that connection should be out of the question. But I do think that that is a factor in trying not to make abortion more accessible in Japan. And again, in the end, the discussion is very rarely about women being able to make their own decisions. It's not about reproductive rights. It is about how to contain these rights. Female sexuality is always presented in a context where women are objectified, but not as active agents or as subjects who make their own decisions and who can also be proactive in sexuality. So this is another thing that is very problematic in Japan this objectification, this oversexualization. Also when you walk through the city you see posters of these manga style figures in small skirts, often very infantilized. But at the same time, female sexuality is a taboo, basically, if it's not in the form of objectification.
Alan Ware 56:29
Then talking about the reproductive rights with abortion, you had mentioned, you were quoted in an article saying that Japanese women who want to have an abortion still need their husband's consent.
Isabel Fassbender 56:40
Yes, yeah, that is outrageous. And officially, they wouldn't need the consent if they're not married. However, in practice, most clinics ask for that consent, no matter what. Usually, the clinics give out the form. And it says that the partner or the husband it says, usually should sign and then if women say, "Yeah, but I'm not married. And I, maybe also, I don't want to inform the other person of that". And of course, there are also cases of sexual assault. And in these cases, often women are also asked to get the consent of their partner, and it is pro forma. And no one would ask if this is a true signature, and if that person really exists. So you could write no matter what. However, you can imagine, if a young woman is already distressed, and is trying to get an abortion, and then being asked to get the consent of her partner, and she cannot provide that. So yeah, this consent thing, I mean, that is outrageous. And that is not I mean, of course, yes, there are people are very critical of that there are activists who have been trying to fight that for a very long time, and who are also very outspoken, but it's not changing.
Alan Ware 57:58
What do your students say about a lot of what they see in terms of the gender roles they're expected to fulfill in marriage and children?
Isabel Fassbender 58:07
Yeah, I mean, it is quite interesting, because they come out of high school,and the education system in Japan is, is very rigid, and there's very little room for critical discussions. So, often, these young women were very surprised to hear a completely different position. And yes, in my class, of course, we talk about issues of gender, about issues of family norms, trying to deconstruct that, take the more historical perspective, issues of reproductive rights, and so on, and so on. And these young women, many of them are brilliant young women and extremely intelligent, but they've never really been in contact with these more critical approaches. And often I get the feedback, I've never thought about it that way. Yeah, thank you very much. Now, I decided I'm never gonna get married, and I'm never gonna get her children never gonna have children. Then I say, of course, that's not my goal. I mean, I don't want to push you in any specific direction. I mean, that would be wrong too, right? But yeah, I'm always saying, yeah, I'm happy that maybe now you have a more balanced perspective and can make real informed decisions. And I mean, I'm also always clearly I'm telling them, I mean, if you get married, and if you have children, be aware of the social risks. And also when you start working, you will meet many, many hurdles. I mean, I would like to be able to tell them how to deal with that. But often, I cannot. And I, of course, I don't want to propose any individualistic solutions for that, because that would be the same as ninkatksu. There are many social problems, but in the end, you have to find it yourself. But yeah, how do you approach these huge social hurdles, these huge limitations, these rigid norms? Yes, sometimes I'm telling them, the only thing is maybe you have to become a politician and make real change. But being a politician, as a woman in Japan, I think is extremely challenging. So yeah, the only thing that I can do is try to provide them a different perspective and provide a platform to discuss these issues.
Nandita Bajaj 1:00:28
Yeah, I mean, you brought up such great contrast between the different types of population policies, both of which in the context of Japan were about controlling reproductive behavior for certain desired outcomes. And neither of them really focused on truly liberating people from these very restrictive and prohibitive gender roles, men and women alike. Like you said, both of them suffer under such patriarchal norms. It's been very, very nice. Also getting an insider look at Japanese culture, you know, the patriarchal nature of the culture, the subtle ways in which the state and the media perpetuate sexism and pronatalism. And how complex as you said, it all is,
Alan Ware 1:01:16
Yes, thanks so much for shining a light and helping us understand Japanese culture that often appears quite different from those of us in the West. And most of what we hear in the western media is about the declining population and the economic stagnation. Sounds like it's being mirrored in Japan, maybe more than I even thought it was. But you're laying out a lot of the cultural nuances of the discussion that's going on in Japan, and what's at stake for a lot of, especially women, in the context of that conversation. Thanks.
Nandita Bajaj 1:01:52
Yeah, thank you.
Isabel Fassbender 1:01:53
Thank you so much. I really enjoyed it.
Alan Ware 1:01:55
That's all for this edition of the Overpopulation Podcast. Visit population balance.org to learn more. To share feedback or guest recommendations, write to us using the contact form on our website, or by emailing us at podcast at populationbalance.org. And if you enjoy this podcast, please rate us on your favorite podcast platform and share it widely. To receive monthly updates about new podcast episodes, publications, events and engagement opportunities sign up to our newsletter at population balance.org/subscribe or by clicking on the link in the show notes. We couldn't do this work without the support of listeners like you and hope that you will consider a one time or recurring donation.
Nandita Bajaj 1:02:40
Until next time, I'm Nandita Bajaj, thanking you for your interest in our work and for your efforts in helping us all shrink toward abundance.
