Akita Prefecture has Japan's most aged population, lowest birthrate and fastest declining population. Rigid gender roles are ...

After graduating from college, Obora Shizue, now in her 40s, was building a solid career at an insurance firm. But after giving birth to her first child she became a full-time mother. “I wanted to ...

For many years, women’s labour force participation patterns in Japan and South Korea were distinct from those in other post-industrial economies. Both countries had a so-called M-shaped age curve for ...

Japan is infamous for its gender inequality. Few women occupy positions of political and corporate leadership. They overwhelmingly shoulder the burden of housework and child care. This year, the World ...

In Japan, more people are trying to avoid drinking too much alcohol because it can cause health problems. Experts say women ...

Japan has one of the oldest populations globally, with its working-age population shrinking since the late 1990s. Despite that, Japan achieved impressive per capita gross domestic product growth, ...

A Japanese woman wants companies to stop making high heels mandatory for women at work. Yumi Ishikawa, an actress and writer, launched a Change.org petition urging her government to ban companies from ...

For centuries, sumo's deep links with the Shinto religion barred women from entering the ring, let alone allowing them to participate. While women remain excluded from professional sumo, more than 600 ...

With its challenge to Japan’s conventional ideals of feminine beauty, the bar, which opened in mid-2020, draws about 100 customers on average each day, the majority of them foreign tourists, and has ...