3) Advent of the Mass Consumption Society： Reinforcing the Fertility Decline
A major characteristic of Japan is its homogeneity in race, religion, language, and even social class. Once every few years leading newspapers in Japan, such as Asahi Newspapers, repeat a public opinion poll asking "to which social class according to the grouping of 'upper', 'middle', or 'lower' do you think you belong?" Each time, more than 80 percent of interviewees respond that they belong to the "middle" class.
It is well known that income differentials among Japanese workers are the smallest among the industrial market economies. Superimposed on Japan's small territory and its homogeneity in language, social class, taste, and life styles has been the Western-based mass consumption culture, involving universal television ownership and an enormous volume of advertisement of consumer goods and services in every household. Thus, every other home in the neighborhood and every other colleague at the office serves as the reference group of the "middle class" Japanese couples are confronted by innumerable "musts" that they need to buy to maintain their middle-class status and prestige. Already the two-child norm has become a household word in Japan. Under the circumstances, having more than two children has fallen totally out of fashion and having more than two adolescents at home strenuously preparing for examinations for admission to high schools and universities seems out of the question. In short, the low birth rate is a natural consequence of the social and economic conditions just described.
4) Increasing Dilemma between Women's Work and Bearing and Rearing Children： Women's Revenge
The recent precipitation in the fertility of Japan has sent a wave of shock through many groups of Japanese people, whether professional or laymen. Some critics have even come to interpret this phenomenon of unprecedented fertility decline as a revenge of women against the present male-oriented and male-dominated society and institution, the long fortressed and nurtured male chauvinistic system of society. The women's revenge might even be called as an anti-Machismo movement in East Asia. This is clearly related to the general trend among the Japanese women towards gainful employment outside of home and may be in a line with what Kingsley Davis, a well-known social demographer, once called the greatest silent revolution in the twentieth century. Although women's labour force participation may be lower than many European countries and the United States and Canada, the rate has been increasing and furthermore women's school enrollment in colleges and universities is a record high.
