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Originally Posted by cridgit001
1. How many children are considered a "large" family. (Here in the states I'd say its 4-5 but I guess that depends on your "class" standing)
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Around here (AKA in a city)? Probably 3 and above. In the countryside though, 4 or 5. I`d say the suburb average is 2 kids, and the rural average is 3.
It seems to be pretty accepted to keep trying until you have at least one of each gender. If you get one of each right away (with 2 kids) then a lot of people stop then. But if they`re both the same gender, then it seems to be pretty common to have another.
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2. At what age does the average Japanese woman get married? (I believe this is important because if they are getting married later, they are having kids(assuming they are waiting till marriage) later which translates to shorter amount of time to reproduce (if I remember the normal stopping point is about 40-45 I think, but I'm not a woman nor a Doctor so I'm just guessing, please don't shoot me)).
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Around here it is 26 to 28. Most women would like to be married and have their first baby before 30. I don`t know about out in the countryside... My husband and I got married extremely young by Japanese standards (21 and 20) so we didn`t have all that much contact with unmarried people of the same age. But when we all hit 26 or 27 - the number of marriages sort of exploded.
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3. Last, which is looked more favorably upon, the working mother or the housewife?
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Housewife - hands down.
That is another reason for the low birthrate. Many (Likely most) couples strongly believe that the mother should stay at home with the children during their early years. And in the big city, where living costs are high, it`s just not feasible. So they wait, and wait until they feel they can make it on one salary.
In the past, back when people lived near their parents/families, this was a lot easier to pull off. A new baby would receive huge community support... But when your family lives 6 hours away things change.