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Single, childless Japan emerging
From Rebecca MacKinnon, CNN Tokyo Bureau Chief
TOKYO, Japan (CNN) -- If you go to a single party in a fashionable part of Tokyo on any given day, you will see successful young professionals who love good food, wine and company. They are part of a major social trend in a country where traditions of marriage and family run deep. A quarter of all Japanese men in their late 30s and 16 percent of women of the same age are single. Much to the chagrin of their parents who want them to get married, they stay single. "I think it's OK to live the way I want," said 39-year-old Mitsutaka. Kayoko Ojima says she just hasn't found the right person. She wants to meet a man who is looking for a partnership, not a traditional wife. For whatever reasons, more and more Japanese men and women are choosing to be single, and all of their very personal choices are gradually shaping the future of Japan's entire society. The most immediate impact is a rapidly declining birthrate. Experts say in three more years Japan's population will start to shrink. Many women in Japan still end up having to choose between a career or marriage and children. Single motherhood is rare and generally not accepted. And even married mothers can feel unwelcome in the workplace. "When I got pregnant after my marriage, my employers advised me to quit my job," said Fumiko, a mother of two. Magazine editor Suwako Nagatomo, 37, once had a boyfriend she wanted to marry -- until he asked her to quit her job, that is. Nagatomo believes women like her stay single because Japanese women have changed while the men and the surrounding social structure have not. One might argue over reasons, but the fact is demographers expect the number of single, childless Japan will only keep on growing.
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