Japanese Families and COVID-19: “Self-Restraint”, Confined Living Spaces, and Enhanced Interactions

Abstract

COVID-19 is transforming how families and societies respond to this public health crisis. This global public health issue has both short and long term ramifications for how people work, go to school, care for families, and communicate. This paper provides a portrait of the changes and effects brought upon by the pandemic and government appeals for “self-restraint” (as opposed to lockdown policies in other countries). In addition, the experiences of Japanese families from the perspective of university students, looking at several aspects such as work, schooling, and relationships. The observations suggest that there are notable impacts upon the Japanese family brought upon by new living arrangements. These include increased interactions and opportunities for more frequent communication between family members. On the other hand, significant issues including financial insecurity caused by reduced or stagnant incomes, tensions between family members due to work-at-home lifestyles, exacerbate existing problems faced by Japanese families. The stress from new living arrangements in small dwellings may have further intensified gender inequality in the division of housework and carework, and become a catalyst for greater strain in relationships. This paper provides an assessment of the current changes experienced by Japanese families based on news reports and statistical data, as well as perceptions of the pandemic from Japanese university students.

Mothers in Lockdown Due to COVID-19 in Mexico: Does Having a Paid Job Make a Difference?

“…Even though for some people the lockdown measures meant an opportunity to be with their families, some studies, such as the ones carried out by Farre et al [ 20 ] and Serrano-Martínez [ 21 ] in Spanish populations, showed that mothers who worked from home found it challenging to reconcile the worlds of work and family within the same space. In fact, during the COVID-19 lockdowns, the limits in terms of shifts and working hours got frequently erased, and both family and social lives were made invisible, which caused uncertainty, frustration, emotional fatigue and mental exhaustion, [ 22 ] as well as anxiety, depression and stress [ 3 , 23 , 24 ].…”

Estrategias de afrontamiento ante la pandemia por COVID-19 en familias nucleares: diferencias entre padres e hijos

“…La pareja puede estar centrada en colaborar para enfrentar los problemas porque identifican que sus hijos los necesitan para cubrir sus necesidades instrumentales y afectivas (Macías, 2012); además de que estar más tiempo en casa les ha permitido aumentar el tiempo de crianza (Ayuso, Requena, Jiménez y Khamis, 2020). Sin embargo también está presente la violencia conyugal como estrategia, la cual ha aumentado globalmente a partir de la pandemia (Fraenkel y Cho, 2020) ya que la cuarentena ha favorecido las tensiones familiares y la separación de las parejas, fenómenos ya registrados antes en Sudáfrica en los casos de la epidemia de ébola (John, Casey, Carino y McGovern, 2020;Kim y Zulueta, 2020). Tal estrategia, actualmente relacionada con https://doi.org/10.25009/pys.v32i3.2800 Instituto de Investigaciones Psicológicas -Universidad Veracruzana Psicología y Salud, Núm.…”

The COVID‐19 Pandemic and Families in Japan

“…Japanese residences in urban areas tend to be limited in space. An average three‐bedroom apartment for Japanese families is around 70 square meters (753 square feet) and living quarters that are limited in space can lead to stress among family members (Kim & Zulueta, 2020). Furthermore, many Japanese families have struggled with the growing financial burden of the pandemic.…”

“…According to one study, more than 85% of families either have experienced or were expecting income cuts, and 47% of workers feared losing their livelihoods. Contract workers, the self‐employed, and students have faced the greatest challenges (Kim & Zuleta, 2020).…”