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International marriage in Japan Graduation ThesisPresented tothe Faculty of the Department ofEnglish Language and LiteratureNotre Dame Seishin University In Partial Fulfillmentof the Requirement for the DegreeBachelor of Arts byShiori Misaki 2020Contents Chapter 1: Background1.1 Introduction1.1.1 Current status of International marriage 1.1.2 Current status of International divorce1.2 Gender Gap Index (GGI) data1.2.1 The current situation of two countries 1.3 Gender and power1.4 Research Questions1.4.1 Reason for the decrease in the number of international marriages1.4.2 How can an international marriage be a success?1.5 Previous research1.6 ConclusionChapter 2: The data2.1 Introduction2.2 The questionnaire2.2.1 Introduction to the questionnaire2.2.2 Method2.2.3 ResultsChapter 3: The Analysis3.1 Introduction3.2 Summary of the results from Chapter Two3.3 Comparing previous research and these data3.4 Research questions3.5 Implications3.6 Limitations of the Experiments 3.7 Further research3.8 ConclusionReferencesAppendicesAbstract In Japan, the declining birthrate and aging population are becoming more serious. Population decline will become the biggest problem in Japan in the future. In order for the future Japanese society to maintain its vitality, foreign support is necessary. Currently, many foreigners are visiting Japan. In addition to tourism, some people come to study abroad and others find employment to learn advanced Japanese skills. Furthermore, some people change their personality and lifestyle after short stays or after permanent settlement, or within an international marriage. This paper focuses on international marriage of Japanese and analyzes the current situation and problems using data. In Chapter 1, we referred to the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare demographic survey and summarize the current state of international marriage and divorce. In addition, we look at the secrets of a successful international marriage in reference to Blair-West (2019) and Agatsuma (2002). Chapter 2 introduced a questionnaire about university students’ ideas on international marriage. As a result, there were many people who were interested in international marriage but has prejudice in their race or could not accept it due to religion. Chapter 3, summarizes each chapter and compares the collected data with the findings. In addition, we looked at the secrets to a successful international marriage in more detail. Chapter 1: Background1.1 Introduction In Japan, globalization has made people’s movements more noticeable. However, the issue of declining birthrate and aging population has not been solved yet. According to the National Institute of Population and Social Security “Estimated Population of Japan (2017 Estimate)”, the total population in 2065 is expected to decrease to about 88 million from today’s 123 million. While facing such problems, the number of foreigners residing in Japan has increased in recent years. According to a demographic survey as of January 1, 2019 published by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, the number of foreigners living in Japan was 2,667,199. This is the largest ever. The ratio for the whole of Japan was about two percent. In particular, the number in their 20s is the highest. In addition, while the number of marriages in Japan is decreasing, the number of international marriages is increasing. According to Basic Knowledge of international marriage, In 1872, Sadasuke Minami who was a British student married a British woman. This was the first international marriage recognized by the Japanese government. In the 1950s, there were Japanese women called “War bride” which means they married an Allied soldier stationed in Japan. In the 1980s, many men had marriage difficulties with many unable to marry especially those in a rural area. The shortage of marriage partners was often taken up by the mass media and was said to be “Shortage of marriage”. As a result, agricultural cooperatives and local governments acted as intermediaries, and there was an active movement to seek marriage partners from Asian countries whose living standards are relatively lower than Japan. In particular, many matching tours with Filipino women and Chinese women started. The number of international marriages increased rapidly from the second half of the 1980s, exceeding 40,000 in 2005. Along with this, international divorce also increased. “Child removal” such as taking a child to home country and not seeing the partner has became a problem. In 2009, Canada, France, the United Kingdom, and the United States issued a joint statement and asked Japan to join the Hague convention to prevent this. The Hague convention is an international cooperation system that promptly and reliably returns a child to its original country if there is a forced removal or detention of a child who crosses a border that violates custody to protect the interests of the child.1.1.1 Current status of International marriage in Japan Currently, Japan is actively accepting foreigners. Figure 1 shows the percentage of international marriages in Japan. According to a demographic survey published by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, in 2013, there were about 20,000 married couples of foreign nationality, the so-called international marriage. The number of international marriages has increased until 2006. At that time, there were many women from Asian country who come to Japan to marry with a Japanese man. They married a rich man living in a foreign country to save a family suffering from poverty. Some were sold by their families and some would come to Japan without knowing the situation, speaking only their native language. They were married through a marriage broker. In a marriage through a marriage broker, the transaction is completed when a man pays a commission or funds to the broker. Figure 1: The percentage of international marriages in Japan Figures 2 and Table 1 show the nationality combination ranking comparing 1996 with 2016. Table 1: Marital combinations by Nationality in 1996Japanese nationalityForeign nationalityPeoplePercentage1Japanese (M)Philippines (F)664523.4%2Japanese (M)Chinese (F)626422.1%3Japanese (M)Korean (F)446115.7%4Japanese (F)Korean (M)28009.9%5Japanese (M)Thailand (F)17606.2%6Japanese (F)Other country (M)17086.0%7Japanese (F)U.S. (M)13574.8%8Japanese (M)Other country (F)10223.6%9Japanese (F)Chinese (M)7732.7%10Japanese (M)Brazil (F)5511.9% (M) and (F) refer to male and femaleTable 2: Nationality combination in 2016Japanese nationalityForeign nationalityPeoplePercentage1Japanese (M)Chinese (F)552628.1%2Japanese (M)Philippines (F)337115.9%3Japanese (M)Other country (F)234911.1%4Japanese (M)Korean (F)20319.6%5Japanese (F)Other country (M)20129.5%6Japanese (F)Korean (M)16277.7%7Japanese (F)U.S. (M)10595.0%8Japanese (M)Thailand (F)9704.6%9Japanese (F)Chinese (M)7903.7%10Japanese (F)Brazil (M)3151.5% (M) and (F) refer to male and female The most common combination is a Japanese husband and a Chinese wife. Around 30% of all international marriages have changed in combination profile. The combination with a Filipino wife has been around 15%. 80% of the international marriage of Japanese men is the marriage with an Asian wife, the most common being a Chinese wife. On the other hand, what about international marriage of Japanese women? There seems to be many husbands of other countries. International marriage of Japanese women is more diverse than that of Japanese men whose Asian wife is fixed at 80%.1.1.2 Current status of International divorce According to the 2016 data released by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, the number of divorces is as follows. The rate of divorces between Japanese is close to one third of the number of marriages, whereas in international marriages, nearly half of the rate of marriages are divorced.Table 3: International divorce percent (number of pairs)Total216,798Japanese couple203,853One of the couples is a foreigner12,945Wife is a foreigner9782Husband is a foreigner3163 Table 4 below shows the divorce percent by nationality in 2016.Table 4: Divorce percent by nationality in 2016NationalityDivorce percent (Number of pairs)HusbandwifeKorean7471,313Chinese4713,602Philippine1432,989Thailand39525U.S.38258U.K.8017Brazil10789Peru4739Others1,1471,150 Divorce percent vary depending on the country of marriage because cultures and lifestyles differ from country to country. The reasons for international divorce are often stated as the difference in language, culture, lifestyle and values. The divorce is often triggered by small matters such as the partner country's food choice and that the relatives can speak only their native language, so communication is not possible as they cannot get used to the differences in customs and ways of thinking. In addition, International divorce is more complicated than domestic divorce because there are issues such as which country's laws apply in the case of a divorce settlement. According to International Marriage Association, Japanese law applies when one of the couple is a Japanese with a habitual residence in Japan, when one partner has a resident card in Japan, and when one of the couple is a Japanese with a habitual residence in Japan. However, if they stayed in a foreign country for more than five years, the country of residence laws will be recognized as their habitual residence and the laws of that country will apply. If Japanese law applies, they can divorce by consultation, mediation, or trial. However, if divorce is not allowed in the spouse's home country, or if only legal divorce is allowed, a trial divorce is used. There are also countries that prohibit divorce itself, and even if a divorce is established under Japanese law, there is a problem when a foreign spouse returns to his / her home country, he / she cannot be remarried. As we can see, there are many complicated procedures for international divorce.1.2 Gender Gap Index (GGI) data There are various kinds of gender inequality. For example, economic inequality such as employment and wage disparities between men and women, discrimination due to differences in religion or traditional customs, and sexual harassment and these can affect marriage and divorce. One of the places where these problems can be seen is in the workplace. In 2017, the World Economic Forum announced the Gender Gap Index (GGI) to measure gender display in each country at “The Global Gender Gap Report 2017”. GGI created from data of four categories of economics, education, politics, and health. The value of 0 is perfect inequality, while the value of 1 is perfect equality. As a result, Japan ranked 114th among 144 countries. On the contrary, the first place was Iceland. On the other hand, Syria is much lower than Iceland and is ranked at 142.Table 5: GGI rankings, 2017Global IndexCountryRankScoreIceland10.878Finland20.830Rwanda30.823..Guinea1130.659Japan1140.657Ethiopia1150.656..Syria1420.568Pakistan1430.546Yemen1440.5161.2.1 The current situation of two countries Iceland has ranked first in the GGI survey for the seventh consecutive year. According to Guide to Iceland, the government has pledged to eliminate gender differences by 2022. Women account for 66% of the graduates of the university, women account for 30 seats in parliament, and Johanna Sigurdardttir served as the female first prime minister from 2009 to 2013. In addition, more than 80% of women are working. As a factor in this trend seen in the Scandinavian countries, both men and women boast a literacy rate of 99%. In education above high school, the ratio of men and women are reversed, more women go to university than men. Moreover, they grant mandatory parental leave to mothers as well as fathers. This make it possible for both fathers and mothers to balance work with their families and to easily share their burden. Iceland makes compulsory education up to university free. Initially, there were only two universities. It seems that the university entrance rate is as high as 70%, equally giving opportunities for the country to learn about its motivation because it is high in the world. In Iceland many people enter university after working for a company for about one year or after graduating from high school and results in an emphasis on the ability after entering society, rather than only academic background. Therefore, many people are strongly responsible for their work. Unlike Japan, working hours are not set. It can be said that the work environment is easy for couples with children because they can give priority to their family and their life without being bound by work. In addition, the Icelandic government banned gender wage disparities for the first time in the world by law. By contrast other countries struggle. Syria has various problems about gender equality. Many in the Middle East including those in Syria believe in Islam. In Islam, polygamy was established for the purpose of protecting weak women with a low rank in the family. In addition, since women were supposed to tempt men, in order to prevent the harm, various customs of sexual isolation typified by the veil and burqa were made. It can be said that religion is largely involved in making gender disparities and since conflicts and violence are constantly continuing as Islamic countries confront other countries. In this way, about two million children were deprived of educational opportunities. Some children have never attended school, or children who have lost the chance to learn for seven years, find it extremely difficult to prepare for the future. Moreover, nearly 40% of children not attending school are 15 to 17 years old and are exposed to exploitation including premature marriage, conscription and child labor. These problems are expanding as the family is being forced to respond more extremely in order to survive. Among the children attending school there are more children in trauma. And while men do dangerous work such as military service, women are prohibited to work from eight o’clock in the evening to seven o’clock in the morning. In addition, Syria has not introduced a childcare leave system. It is also a problem that men are not given opportunities related to childbirth or child rearing because of the strong idea of going out and working. From these points, it can be seen that Syria is far from being a gender equality society in labor and in social terms.1.3 Gender and power What kind of gender difference is there in the working environment in the world? The first is wage disparity. Often, a women’s basic salary may be lower than men of the same age and same position. When one’s basic salary is low, there is a disparity in severance pay. Even is appealing the improvement of treatment to the company,it will not accept. The second is various types of harassment. Especially, power harassment which gives mental and physical distress beyond the scope of proper work and sexual harassment which sexually harasses are severe problems in modern society. These forms of harassment are a human rights violation and needs to be solved, including the person themselves and the people around them. The third is that the work assigned to genders is different. There is still a common concept that men should work outside and women should do housework has been rooted in society from long ago and may cause differences in expectations between potential international marriage partners. It is a fact that many women currently work outside but there are differences in the roles given at work by prejudice of gender,or example, often women have to serve tea and coffee when customers visit the company in Japan. In some cases, women employees are given work not to provide tea only to visitors but also to prepare tea for all employees. It is unfair gender discrimination to make women employees go out early in order to serve tea daily. In the case of women, they may be forced to retire for reasons such as marriage, childbirth and child rearing. Moreover, even if they perform important tasks or acquire advanced knowledge, the impression is that they will leave the company after a short period of time, creating the idea that everything will be wasted. From this perspective, there are companies that give women only simple tasks anyone can do. All the above differences in gender equality are part of some societies and acculturated in the individuals and can lead to false expectations from their potential marriage partner.1.4 Research Questions1.4.1 Reason for the decrease in the number of international marriages The number of international marriages has declined in two periods. The first is 2001. The reason for this is trafficking measures were strengthened in 2000. Marriage through marriage brokers became a problem around the world. Therefore, the United Nations has tightened restrictions on human trafficking. The second is 2006. Japan revised immigration law in 2005. The government tightened the requirements for obtaining residency by amending the immigration law from the viewpoint of security. This dramatically reduced the encounters between men and women. Since 2006, the number of marriages between Japanese men and Filipino women declined sharply, and the number of international marriages has also decreased. According to demographic data, the strengthening of crackdown on Chinese women who enter Japan as a spoofed marriage may have affected the decline in the number and ratio of international marriages.Figure 2: The data for demographic data1.4.2 How can an international marriage be a success? Dr. George Blair-West is an author, researcher and doctor specializing in psychiatry. He gave a talk about three secrets to avoid divorce at TED in 2017. He said the first thing to do before getting married is get older. In recent years, men and women are getting married late. He says that the later the time of marriage, the lower the divorce rate. The reason is stated as follows. He says…“Firstly, getting married later allows the other two preventers of divorce to come into play. They are tertiary education and a higher income, which tends to go with tertiary education. So these three factors all kind of get mixed up together. Number two, neuroplasticity research tell us that the human brain is still growing until at least the age of 25. So that means how you're thinking and what you're thinking is still changing up until 25. And thirdly, and most importantly to my mind, is personality. Your personality at the age of 20 does not correlate with your personality at the age of 50. But your personality at the age of 30 does correlate with your personality at the age of 50. So when I ask somebody who got married young why they broke up, and they say, "We grew apart," they're being surprisingly accurate, because the 20s is a decade of rapid change and maturation. ” Blair-West says that the second secret is always respect. He mentions this by taking the study of psychologist John Gottman as an example. Blair-West says…“Gottman found that the relationships that were the most stable and happy over the longer term were relationships in which the couple shared power. They were influenceable: big decisions, like buying a house, overseas trips, buying a car, having children. But when Gottman drilled down on this data, what he found was that women were generally pretty influenceable. ” “The other thing that Gottman found is that men who are influenceable also tended to be "outstanding fathers." So women: How influenceable is your man? Men: you're with her because you respect her. Make sure that respect plays out in the decision-making process. ” The third secret is can be accomplished at anytime. Even couples who have been dating for many years choose to leave because of lack of trust. He says that you should always decide whether your partner is a reliable partner. Blair-West says…“So is your partner there for you when it really matters? Not all the time, 80 percent of the time, but particularly if it's important to you. On your side, think carefully before you commit to do something for your partner. It is much better to commit to as much as you can follow through than to commit to more sound-good-in-the-moment and then let them down. And if it's really important to your partner, and you commit to it, make sure you move hell and high water to follow through. ” The most important decision is “who you choose as a life partner, who you choose as the other parent of your children” (Blair-West, 2019). Marriage is a team play, so couples need to think about things together. International marriage has various difficulties, such as cultural and language differences. However, if can take responsibility and respect for each other's existence, can overcome these difficulties.1.5 Previous research Agatsuma (2005), studied bilinguals and visited several international marriage families with children and interviewed them. Agatsuma (2005) said ...“The parents should not try and confuse the child with the idea of learning culture through language. You cannot learn culture through a language; it should be kept purely as a method of expression and communication. Culture is an adult concept. Children do not have an idea of culture. Some of the parents whom I had interviewed have been trying to teach their cultures to their children at home. However, children will not be able to learn the culture as their own one without going overseas and living there. Therefore, parents should make chances to go overseas and let their children have contact with a different culture.”　 The wife of the couples she interviewed were all interested in life overseas. One wife studied three languages ??at a university and is an English teacher. Another wife worked in Japan after studying abroad for several years. They accumulated foreign knowledge and were in close contact with foreign countries. As Agatsuma says, it is not possible to know the culture just by learning the language. To succeed in international marriage, we need to be tolerant of other things. To do so, we need to be interested in other countries and increase our knowledge. If we do, we can think about our partner's family and broaden our horizons. It may seem terrible, but there is a joy in doing something that is difficult.1.6 Conclusion In this chapter we looked at the current status of international marriage in Japan and based on two people’s opinions, we summarized some points for successful international marriage. In Chapter Two, we will look at the data from a questionnaire / experiment.Chapter 2: The Data 2.1 Introduction In Chapter One, we looked at the percentage of International marriage and divorce in Japan as well as the gender gap and equality by country. In this chapter, we will look at the questionnaire given to university students, both men and women that revealed their ideas and opinions about what attributes make them feel about International marriage. 2.2 The questionnaire2.2.1 Introduction to the questionnaire This questionnaire is designed to investigate what young people think about international marriage. 2.2.2 Method In order to collect the data a questionnaire was given to 40 students mostly at Notre Dame Seishin University. Subjects The subjects of took the questionnaire “International marriage”. All respondents (20-22 years old.) were studying at university, not only majoring in English but also majoring in economics and medicine and various departments.Questionnaire design The questionnaire was divided into three parts. The first part asked if the subjects want to have an International marriage. In the second part, the subjects gave their answers to nine examples and were asked if they could withstand these cultural differences. The third part asked the subjects to choose an answer from the choices and asked the advantages and disadvantages of International marriage. In section four, the subjects were asked to respond by ranking various viewpoints.Procedure This questionnaire was made with Google Forms. After making it, the subjects were asked to give their permission for their data to be used and asked to write their first language, and age. There were no time restrictions, so the subjects could answer it at any time they want. The data were analyzed using Excel.2.2.3 Results First, we will look at the data for the first part of this questionnaire. Question 1 asks “if you fall in love with a person from overseas, do you think that maybe you would marry them in the future?” As a result, the data in Figure 3 shows 47.5% answered “Definitely yes”. On the other hand, 40% answered “I do not know”. Perhaps they will make decisions based on race, customs and other circumstances.Figure 3 : The data for “If you fall in love with a person from overseas, do you think that maybe you would marry them in the future? Second, we will look at the data at the first part of this questionnaire. These are in the first part asking people who answered “Definitely yes”, “Yes”, and “I don’t know”.Figure 4 : The data for “Which ethnicities or races are suitable for you?” Question 2 asks “which ethnicities or races are suitable for you?” 12.1% answered “Caucasian”. It is expected that Japanese people have a longing for whites as the reason why many whites are chosen. Now, models who have mixed parentage (half with whites) are popular as examples of “beauty” are used by the media, and seem to show that the “beauty” that we should adore are not Asian people familiar to us, but so-called white people, Figure 5 : The data for “if your partner doesn't eat meat and ask you to do the same, would you do the same?” Question 3 asks “if your partner doesn't eat meat and ask you to do the same, would you do the same?” As a result, far more people answered “No”. Even if like partner, it seems difficult to restrict the food type. Figure 6 : The data for “if your partner says “You should hide your skin whenever you go out”, would you accept it?” Question 4 and Figure 6 asks only for women. “If your partner says “You should hide your skin whenever you go out”, would you accept it?” 74.3% answered “No”.Japan has long had a culture that cherished a simple and quiet atmosphere. It has been good to read the surrounding atmosphere, to assimilate and cooperate with the surroundings rather than clearly asserting oneself. Therefore, the Japanese place importance on how people see things. Restricting clothes for Japanese women who are sensitive to fashion will be very difficult.Opinions included:I want to change clothes according to the climate. I don’t want to be instructed in how to dress.Figure 7 : The data for “in your partner's culture is normal (and legal) to have several wives besides you, could you endure it?” Question 5 asks only for women. “In your partner's culture is normal (and legal) to have several wives besides you, could you endure it?” 91.4% answered “No”. Perceived polygamy may increase disgust or anxiety about cheating only for men. On the other hand, 8.6% answered “Yes”. A man living in Saga prefecture has a marital relationship with two women. He divorced his first wife in 2014. Married the second wife and divorced immediately. Although they were all singles in the family register, they were to live as a family. There are six children among the three people, and nine people live together. Although it is unthinkable according to the common sense of most Japanese, it is also true there are families that adopt polygamous- style relationships like this. Figure 8 : The data for “your partner uses their hands when eating. Can you do the same every day?” Question 6 asks “your partner uses their hands when eating. Can you do the same every day?” About 40% of the world eats by hand. Japanese people also eat foods like hamburgers and onigiri by hand. However, Japan is said to have a culture of eating with chopsticks. Chopsticks can be mixed, cut and stabbed in various ways. For Japanese people, chopsticks are an essential tool. Therefore, it would be difficult to eat all meals by hand without chopsticks.Opinions included:I can accept the culture but can’t do the same. Figure 9 : The data for “if a child is born, would you accept the child will stay in separate bedroom?” Question 7 asks “if a child is born, would you accept the child will stay in that separate bedroom of your child?” In some other countries in Europe and the United States, there are many parents make even newborn babies sleep in a separate bedroom from their parents. This is said to be due to promote the independence of children by letting them sleep alone and this idea has become established. In Japan, there are many families who worry about breastfeeding and crying at night and have the children in the same bedroom or bed. However, there are many people who think that their bedrooms can be separate for the future of children. As a result, 44.4% answered “Yes”, while 55.6% answered “No”.Figure 10 : The data for “If you were told, “Stay at home. Don't work” by your partner. Can you do housework for a lifetime?” Question 8 asked only for women. “If you were told, “Stay at home. Don't work” by your partner. Can you do housework for a lifetime?” Less than half agreed. There are still many people who have the idea of male chauvinism and that women should do housework at home. If they can build a family with husband’s income alone, the belief is a wife should willingly concentrate on housework. Figure 11 : The data for “If your partner said, ‘Let's live in my country’ would you leave Japan?” Question 9 asks “if your partner said, ‘Let's live in my country’ would you leave Japan?”. 57.1% answered “Yes”. There are many people who envision the wonderful life overseas often seen in overseas dramas and movies, and yearn for overseas migration. On the other hand, the reason for 42.9% who answered “No” would be expected to be worried about language, relationships, and so on. Opinions included:I do not want to change the current environment. Figure 12 : The data for “If you and your partner have different religions. If you were asked to change, would you change it?” Question 10 asks “If you and your partner have different religions. If you were asked to change, would you change it?” 71.4% answered “No”. It seems that there are many people who regard religion as a problem. Religious views are said to more likely build harmony with a partner, but can also cause divisions. In addition, conflicts are less likely to occur when a child is born. Even if the view on religion does not match, it is difficult to live together if there is no willingness to accept the religion of the other party. Opinions included:I don’t need to accept partner’s thoughts Third, the following questions were answered by giving the respondent a choice and explaining why. Question 11 and Figure 13 asks the preference of a marital partner and the reason from five regions. Types are broadly divided into British, American, Koreans, Filipino or Nepalese and Thai. British is white people and American is black people. As a result, Koreans and British were often chosen showing there may be a longing or affinity for British and familiarity with familiar faces. Opinions included:Because it is cool.Because it looks like Japan.He looks like a gentleman. On the other hand, the number wanting to marry American and Filipinos or Nepaleses were very small. There were many people who had a scary image against Blacks. Such prejudice may lead to racism.Figure 13 : The data for the preference and reason from five types. TypesBritish American Koreans Filipino or Nepalese ThaiPercentage 42.5% 2.5% 47.5% 2.5% 5% Question 12 asks “If you are a Japanese speaker while your partner is an English speaker. Which language would you choose when talking to partner?”. 52.5% chose Japanese. Many respondents said that it is normal to speak Japanese because we live in Japan.Opinions included:It will not be stressful to match with the other party. On the other hand, some respondents chose other languages to bring their child up bilingual.Opinions included:I want to learn another language.Figure 14 : The data for “If you are Japanese speaker while your partner is an English speaker. Which language would you choose when talking to partner?” Question 13 asks “you speak Japanese while your partner speaks English. Which language would you choose for your child’s first language?” As a result, 75% chose Japanese. The most common reason was “It is Japan here”. Among the 25% respondents who chose other languages, there was a voice saying “I want to improve my child’s language skills”.Opinions included:I want to my husband’s native language to be my child’s first language.Figure 15 : The data for “If you speak Japanese while your partner speaks English. Which language would you choose for your child’s first language?” Question 14 asks “you are Buddhist while your partner is Hindu. If a child is born, which denomination would you like to have the child?” This was asked if they live in Japan with their partner. As a result, the proportion of Buddhist and other religions remained almost unchanged. There seem to be few people with a strong commitment to religion. Opinions included:Easy to educate.It’s Japan.Should match the religion of the father.Figure 16 : The data for “you are Buddhist while your partner is Hindu. If a child is born, which denomination would you like to have a child?” Question 15 to answer the good points of an international marriage. The most common answer was “Because a cute child will be born”. There are many opportunities to see mixed race celebrities in the media these days. Many have longing to be like them. Other opinions included:Eliminating anxiety about traveling abroad.Expanding future options for children.Figure 17 : The data for the good points of international marriage Question 16 asked about the problems of international marriage. The most common answer was “differences in culture” Which they were worried about. Other opinions included:Blame from relativesCustody dispute at the time of divorceChildren may be bulliedHomecoming problemFigure 18 : The data for the problems in international marriage Fourth, the conditions necessary for international marriage are shown in the following rankings. Question 17 asked about the ranking of appearance. The most necessary condition is money which is absolutely necessary to buy a house, give birth and raise a child. A wealthy husband may be the best as a husband even if he does not have a suitable character according to the data. Next comes the order of age, food preference, religious preferences, body compatibility and academic background. Figure 19 : The data for the appearance ranking Question 18 asked about the ranking of personality and character. The most necessary condition is personality. Certainly differences of personality makes it difficult to live together. If a partner has a personality that allows you to feel compassion and forgiveness when live together, you will not be in trouble. The next comes the order of values, tolerance, kindness and wisdom.Figure 20 : The character and personality rankings Question 19 is indicates the importance of each. As a result, “Compatibility”, “Attitude to money” and “Share values towards children” were very important. Just by being gentle, not all marriage life goes smoothly, and if only income is high, it might lead to a married life that is not mentally satisfying. On the other hand, “Sharing the same religion” was less important than others.Figure 21 : The data which indicates the importance of each category 2.3 SummaryThis chapter looked at the data from the questionnaire. The next chapter will look at the results in detail.Chapter 3: The Analysis3.1 Introduction Chapter One discussed current status of international marriage in Japan, and asked “how can an international marriage be a success?” In Chapter Two we looked at some data collected from university students. In this chapter this will summarize the data which show the secrets for a successful international marriage in more detail based on the data collected in Chapter Two.3.2 Summary of the results from Chapter Two First, almost half of the subjects thought they would accept an international marriage. However, there were far more subjects who said it was difficult to live together when differences in their culture and customs occurred. After all, there seem to be many subjects who think that the barrier of cultural and religious differences is high. In addition, the percentage of subjects who answered that they prefer people from the same Asian religion as Japan was the highest. Some of the reasons for the low figures for Blacks and Orientals were that they had a scary image, or that they had a resistance to skin color. This show that it is also true that some people have prejudice which can lead to gender discrimination and racism. In addition, money and personality were the most common reasons for marriage. Emphasis was placed on economic stability and internal appeal. It turns out that emphasis is placed on whether or not people can enjoy a sense of security and feeling comfortable as partners for life. The idea that men should work outside and women should do housework may still prevail among both men and women.3.3 Comparing previous research and these data There were many opinions about being able to become a bilingual speaker and wide number of views for the advantage of international marriage. However, as Agatsuma (2002) said, international marriage is not successful just by learning a language. Before getting married, we should touch the cultures of other countries with our own skin and experience the differences from our home culture. If we cannot accept the difference and have no interest, we cannot broaden our own horizons. Moreover, in order to broaden the future vision for the children, it is necessary to respect differences in language, customs, religion, etc. between couples and build good relationships.3.4 Research questions The number of international marriages is decreasing year by year. One of the reasons is that immigration laws have been strictly tightened to prevent marriage fraud and strengthen security. Blair-West said that the key to marriage is getting older, not forgetting respect for the other, and taking responsibility. If can we find these things in a partner, we can also build other new ones in the existing relationship. Race or religion may not be relevant.3.5 Implications In this thesis studied the current status of international marriage in Japan and the reason of divorce, and considered ways to make marriage successful. When university students were asked for their opinions on marriage, it seemed that it was difficult for them to accept an international marriage due to differences in language and customs, although they were willing to marry, so we can expect they would imagine an international marriage might bring problems. Whether these problems are viewed positively or negatively will depend on the person and couple. Similarly, there are still many people who have a fixed concept of foreigners. It was also true that many people thought it would be difficult to continue living together if there was a disagreement about values, such as finances and personality. However, it turns out that a deep analysis of one’s partners, an interest in differences, and respect for each other are the keys to a successful international marriage. 3.6 Limitations of the Questionnaire There are several limitations with this study. Firstly, most of the subjects were university students and the number of male responses was much lower than that of females. Secondly, all of the subjects were Japanese as the author was unable to collect data from foreign subjects. Therefore, we came to these conclusions only with opinions from Japanese subjects. Finally, we could not talk to couples who actually have an international marriage and could not learn the actual situation of such marriages as Agatsuma did. 3.7 Further research If there is an opportunity to study the same thing in the future, I would like to study international marriage from the perspective of a foreigner. As globalization progresses, many foreigners are interested in Japan and are visiting Japan. Perhaps the impression that foreigners have of Japanese people is not the same as what Japanese people imagine. I would like to survey people who have moved to Japan or visited for sightseeing. Furthermore, I want to hear the opinions from people of all ages from junior high school students to senior citizens as well as university students. For this purpose, I would like to increase my knowledge about international marriage and disseminate this information.3.8 Conclusion Shinobu Terashima is a Japanese actress. She married a French art director in 2007. She studied hard about French culture and history. She said she had a hard time living with her husband, but her interests and interests expanded and her spirit became rich. She now lives happily with her husband and son. As internationalization progresses, new problems in international marriage will increase. In order to strengthen the connection between countries, the world needs to fully understand the situation of international marriage and we are aware of the potential problems. In addition, we should be more interested in the situation of children in international families. If there is a conflict between the couple, the child will be shocked much more than if it is a non international marriage as their life will be more dramatically affected if the parents split. Consequently, it will present a big challenge to the childrens’ future. It is important to respect the differences and help each other. Marriage is the most important decision in life. Not only romantic feelings but also thoughtful thinking backed by information is necessary. When meeting a lifetime partner, he or she may be of a different race than ourselves. They may have different customs and cultures. We should accept and respect the differences as our future may cross borders. ReferencesArticles and booksAgatsuma, S. 2005. Bilingual Families. Thesis presented to Notre Dame Seishin University.WebpagesBasic knowledge of international marriage. August 20, 2019George Blair-West. TED, Three ways to build a happy marriage and avoid divorce. July 10, 2019 Guide to Iceland, Gender equality and Iceland. November 1, 2018NPO International Marriage Association, About international divorce. September 4, 2019Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, Number of divorces by year according to the nationality of the couple. September 4, 2019Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, Number of marriages based on demographic statistics. September 4, 2019Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, Overview of the special report on demographic statistics "statistics on marriage", p.11 Accessed August 20, 2019Population Projections for Japan: 2016-2065, National Institute of Population and Social Security Research. p.2, ll.6-11. Accessed August 20, 2019Tanami Iwamoto. Islam and Women’s Rights: findings through the deliberations of the United Nation November 1, 2018World Economic Forum, The Global Gender Gap Report 2017. November 1, 2018Tanami Iwamoto. Islam and Women’s Rights: findings through the deliberations of the United Nation November 1, 2018AppendicesQuestion 1 : If you fall in love with a person from overseas, do you think that maybe you would marry them in the future?Question 2 : Which ethnicities or races are suitable for you?Question 3 : If your partner doesn't eat meat and ask you to do the same, would you do the same?Question 4 : If you partner says “You should hide your skin wherever you go out”, would you accept it?Question 5 : In your partner’s culture is normal (and legal) to have several wives besides you, could you endure it?Question 6 : Your partner uses their hands when eating. Can you do the same every day?Question 7 : If a child is born, would you accept the child will stay in separate bedroom?Question 8 : If you were told, “Stay at home. Don't work.” by partner. Can you do housework for a lifetime?Question 9 : If your partner said, “Let's live in my country.” Do you leave Japan? Question 10 : If you and your partner have different religions. If you were asked to change, would you change it ?Question 11 : Which type do you like? Why? TypesBritish American Koreans Filipino or Nepalese ThaiQuestion 12 : If you are Japanese speaker while your partner is an English speaker. Which language would you choose when talking to partner? Why?Question 13 : You speak Japanese while your partner speaks English. Which language would you choose for your child’s first language? Why?Question 14 : You are Buddhist while your partner is Hindu. If a child is born, which denomination would you like to have a child in? Why?Question 15 : Please tell me 3 advantages of international marriageQuestion 16 : Please tell me 3 disadvantages of international marriage Question 17 : appearance rankingmoneyagereligionbody compatibilityAcademic backgroundFood preferenceQuestion 18 : The character and personality rankingPersonalityValuesToleranceClevernessKindnessQuestion 19 : Indicates the importance of each categoryCompatibilityAttitudes to moneyShare values of childrenShare the same religion ................
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