One place in Japan where fertility is sky-high

Louis T. March

November 06, 2024 2 Reactions

Priorities

Maybe folks in Tokunoshima have a different outlook. Like everyone else they enjoy material things, but the produce-and-consume treadmill is not the focus of life. They don’t seem to be enslaved to the pursuit of creature comforts. Simply put, their priorities may be different from those of greater Japan.

Despite its idyllic image, Tokunoshima is not a place of material wealth. The island’s economy is built upon traditional industries such as fishing and sugar cane production — hardly the kind of economic engines that generate prosperity in the modern world. Yet, in Japan’s annual birth rate surveys, the towns of Tokunoshima consistently rank among the highest in the nation.

Outsiders have commented that Tokunoshima’s culture and economy are harmonious, unlike the office jobs and stressful commutes baked into the vise grip of modernism. True wealth lies in families. Perhaps they understand that.

Scholar Sonny Bardot lived on Tokunoshima for six months researching dating culture. He found that as families grew, older children were expected to take on responsibilities for care of their younger siblings: “Women often told me that after three children, it’s basically the same. There’s no additional work between three to six kids.” Who’d a thought? That’s how it was before children were seen as a hindrance to “success.”

Mr. Bardot co-authored a study with Yoshi Moriki, “The commodification of romance in relation to fertility rate in Japan: a case study in Tokunoshima,” that examined the family-friendly culture:

… the absence of commodification in romantic intercourse facilitates matchmaking that would result in the creation of a family. People are more likely to meet someone with whom they will have a family when the dating process is not embedded with commodified gestures.

In today’s world commodification is the basis of globalism. We know the price of everything and the value of nothing. Apparently, Tokunoshima doesn’t buy it. Good for them.

Child-friendly

After visiting Tokunoshima, Yuki Matsuoka moved there from Tokyo for the birth of her first child. She was impressed by the welcoming culture. It struck her as a place that lives for the next generation, with a culture of stewardship implicit in daily life.

Kids … feel like they are truly welcomed by the community. I was used to the idea that two children were plenty. But here, three or four is normal. Six or seven? Not uncommon at all.

There are customs here that people ‘remember deeply’ from childhood, and they’re incredibly important … The kids who experience that feel like they are truly welcomed by the community. When you reach adulthood, you find yourself wanting your own children to go through the same wonderful experiences.

Children are celebrated. Communities band together to mark childhood rites of passage at one month old, on entry into elementary school and adulthood at age 20. Ms Matsuoka:

It’s not a casual culture that could be built somewhere else; it’s something deeply ingrained in the life here. We don’t just possess some secret here that you can take home and emulate.

Maybe these folks just don’t believe in stress. Tomokazu Hiro, who heads Tokunoshima’s Care and Welfare Division, seems to agree. While everyone needs money, the community attitude is: “Everyone has the nantoka naru… it will work out somehow.” Amen. Don’t sweat the small stuff – and it’s all small stuff.

Incentives

The local government is family conscious. Public housing is located near schools to ensure enough residents for the schools to continue. Don’t confuse this with crime-ridden public housing in the West. Japanese streets are safe.

There are scholarships for healthcare and caregiving studies which are forgiven after working in Tokunoshima for five years. There is financial support for in vitro fertilization. There are also financial incentives for the birth of additional children as well as free school lunches and subsidized child healthcare.

However much these incentives may help, Mr. Hiro reminds us: “We were already No. 1 [in TFR] in Japan before a lot of these subsidies. I think we try to listen to the people and that is what makes good results.”

Community life

Forty-five percent of Tokunashima women aged 20 to 24 are married, in contrast to 7 percent nationwide. Two percent of Japanese births are out of wedlock, but in the islands, there is no stigma for single motherhood.

While dekikon — marriage due to pregnancy — is often stigmatized in other parts of Japan, nearly all marriages on Tokunoshima begin this way… Rather than being viewed negatively, it often represents a natural progression in relationships, deeply integrated into the local culture.

Divorce, too, is approached differently. The island has a much higher divorce rate compared to the rest of Japan, but this hasn’t led to societal ostracism. The community is notably accepting of single mothers and blended families.

Following are locales with Japan’s highest TFRs: Tokunoshima (Kagoshima Prefecture), 2.25; Amagi (Kagoshima) 2.24; Ginoza (Okinawa) 2.20; Nagashima, (Kagoshima), 2.11. Other towns in Okinawa Prefecture are right on their heels with TFRs above 2.0.

It warms the heart to see family-friendly communities thrive. We have much to learn from those who value family above all else and lead through example. That’s the way it should be. It’s all about priorities.  

What is your view of Japan’s future?  

Louis T. March has a background in government, business, and philanthropy. A former talk show host, author, and public speaker, he is a dedicated student of history and genealogy. Louis lives with his family in the beautiful Shenandoah Valley of Virginia.

Image credit: Leo Okuyama on Unsplash