In reaction to a record low of annual birth rate in Japan in 1989, the phrase “1.57 shock” was coined. Shortly after that, a new idea was developed regarding the way some married couples shared housework; a man works fulltime and does housework and a woman does housework and pursues hobbies or hobby-related work. Some previous studies on the images depicted in the Japanese women’s magazines in the beginning of the twenty first century have demonstrated that the articles in those magazines encouraged fulltime housewives in their forties to go back to work and promote a youthful and attractive image. But there is a problem. These studies focus on only one economic level and cover a short period of time. In this study, I have analyzed the images of marriage which are featured in three women’s magazines published from the late 1970s to the early 2000s in Japan. In particular, firstly, I used the articles regarding marriage targeting single women to find out the transition of the image of marriage in each period. Then I examined the possible reasons of the transitions through readers’ points of view as expressed in the comment pages. Finally I further analyzed the articles in magazines targeting different economic levels published from the 1990s to early 2000s. Based on the results I found in this research, I can conclude that a new idea regarding marriage coined after the “1.57 shock” did not have a great impact on the idea of what makes a good housewife. It has changed only slightly in the 30 years since the late 1970s with variations on the view of ideal housewives depending upon one’s economic level in society.

Mika Hattori Vermeulen is a Tenured Lecturer in the Department of World Liberal Arts at Nagoya University of Foreign Studies, where she has been since 2015. She received an M.A. from Graduate School of International Development at Nagoya University. Her research interests include consumer culture, social transition, and multi-cultural society.

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