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OBJECTIVE The paper examines changes in the relationship between employment and household tasks of Japanese couples, using data drawn from national cross-sectional surveys in 1994, 2000, and 2009 of persons aged 20-49, and from the 2009 follow-up of the 2000 survey. RESULTS Wives' employment is structured by their husbands' employment time and earning power, as well as by their family situations, including the presence and age of children and co-residence with parents. Housework hours of husbands, though very low, increased over time, while wives' hours decreased. Wives' housework time decreases as their employment time increases. Marriage dramatically increases women's housework time but produces little change in men's time. Husbands' housework hours are positively correlated with reported marital satisfaction of both spouses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aggregate data on birth rates in the U.S. and Japan, classified by period and by age, are decomposed into age, period, and cohort effects using Bayesian cohort models that were developed to overcome the identification problem in cohort analysis. Main findings are fivefold. First, age, period, and cohort effects movements are all larger in Japan than in the U.S. Second, in both countries, age effects are the largest and are roughly consistent with the life-cycle movements showing an inverted U shape. Third, Easterlin’s cohort size hypothesis roughly fits U.S. birth rates but not Japanese birth rates. Fourth, despite rapid decline of total fertility rates in Japan in last three decades, period effects have been on an upward trend since the early 1990s. Finally, upward and downward cohort effects movements in Japan are derived by rapid economic growth and the Equal Employment Opportunity Law, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examines the retirement age levels on the employment system in Japan. Implication of the growing cadre of aging workers; Response of the Japanese companies and industries on the age retirement; Approach of Japanese firms on the effective management of older work force.