Abstract
The period after World War II has witnessed in Japan the emergence of new family characteristics, including a life-course pattern that includes substantial periods of extrafamilial existence. Affecting at this time only a minority of contemporary Japanese, the new pattern is particularly noticeable among young adults and among the old, especially among old women; and appears to be related to the widespread accep tance of the conjugal family system among the younger generations and the development of welfare policies aimed toward the old. Available sources permit an examination of the new pattern through contrasts with the pre-World War II period (when the ie system dominated) and through the study of familial settings of relevant cohorts in the past two decades.
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