Family in Japan

I think that the style of family in Japan has dramatically changed. At first, I want to talk about fathers in Japan. The typical image of father in Japan was “kaminari-oyaji” or father like a thunder as is written in the textbook. The fact meant that father had authority in Japan and was very strong. However, many fathers are now hated by daughters and cannot feel comfortable in their home. Such fathers do not have authority which fathers had in the past. Second, I talk about mothers in Japan. The typical image of “mother” was “okusan” or a person who is always in the house. However, many women came to work after they married and even they had children. The idea that wife should be in the house and do housework is now old. Although many women are working today, discrimination still exists. So they have to work harder than men to be promoted. I have once heard that Japanese women are one of the strongest women in the world. I agree to this idea to some extent. Although they worked hard in the old time, they now work harder than that time. They had to be strong to be independent. It may be able to say that mothers became strong and fathers relatively became weaker in the family. However, there are some “tyoiwaru-oyaji” or a bit dandy father. Such fathers are cool and liked by Japanese people. They might change the typical image of recent weak fathers. As I explained, Japanese family style dramatically after World War II. It can be said that the social changes caused life style changes, then the life style changes caused this dramatic change of Japanese family style.