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Intermarriage and children

Japanese born to parents of different nationalities

Two percent have one Japanese and one foreign parent

By William Wetherall

First drafted 16 March 2006
First posted 10 September 2010
Last updated 15 September 2010

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Annual vital statistics cross-tabulate births registered in Japan in numerous ways. There are different sets of data for children born in Japan as Japanese, children born in Japan as aliens, and children born overseas as Japanese.

The figures shown here are for children born in Japan, who are registered as Japanese, by the nationalities of their parents -- both Japanese, or one Japanese and the other non-Japanese. These are strictly civil statuses based on legal affiliation.

The so-called "legitimacy" of a child -- i.e., wether it's mother is legally married -- is not an issue. All children registered as Japanese are included. Presumably the "Other" category includes also the few cases in which a child has been registered as Japanese because both it its parents are stateless, or because neither of its parents are known.

The figures exclude late registrations -- i.e., children whose births in Japan in a given year registered too late to be included in the counts for that year. Such figures, like those for foreigners in Japan, and for Japanese overseas, are tabulated and reported in separate tables. The figures also, of course, exclude unregistered children, who do not yet legally exist.

More Japanese children with foreign mothers

The variations in percents and ratios by nationality of the foreign parent reflect patterns of intermarriage, which in turn reflect the composition and other characteristics of the alien population in Japan and its relationship with the Japanese population.

Ratio of foreign mothers to foreign fathers

In the first (general) table, the ratio of Japanese children with foreign mothers to those with foreign fathers, climbed to a peak in 1995 or so, since when it has been falling. Still, throughout the period shown, a child with one Japanese and one foreign parent is more likely to have a foreign mother.

This, being a global ratio, does not reflect the trends of any particular mix of nationality. The breakdowns on marriages by nationality mixture (see Japanese intermarriages) show that the peaks in the numbers of marriages between Japanese and various nationals are somewhat scattered. The ratio is, of course, skewed by nationality mixtures with larger numbers.

Ratio of foreign fathers to foreign mothers

The inverse ratio -- i.e., the ratio of Japanese children with foreign fathers to those with foreign mothers -- has been computed for each tabulated nationality in the last table.

Three extremes are evident in ratios for Japanese children with a Korean, Filipino, or American parent.

Japanese children with a Korean parent

Since 1987, the ratio of Japanese children with Korean mothers to those with Korean fathers has gradually moved from slightly under 1.0 to slighly over 1.0 -- which cannot be accurately interpreted without analyzing other factors. In principle, the ratio would be about 1.0 -- if the Korean and Japanese populations have the same gender and age distributions, the same likelihoods of intermarriage, and the same fertility rates -- and if such variables have been fairly stable over a period of years.

However, this is a good example of why global ratios, which reflect complex conditions, cannot be taken at face value. The intermarriage figures for Koreans in Japan (see Korean intermarriages) clearly show that the ratio of Korean men to Korean women marrying Japanese fell from the 2.5 level in the mid 1950s, through the 1.0 level by the end of the 1960s, and to the 0.5 level by the late 1980s when the figures shown here begin, and have since fluxuated slightly below this level.

The explanation of the gap between the two ratios -- roughly 0.5 for the ratio of Korean men to Korean women marrying Japanese, and roughly 1.0 (instead of 0.5 or so) for the ratio of children with Korean fathers to those with Korean mothers married to Japanese -- probably lies in different fertility rates. Apart from physiological factors, fertility rates will involve mainly attitudes toward marriage and family. These attitudes may reflect differences in the nature of the coupling -- whether between Korean natives of Japan, or between migrant Koreans and Japanese.

Japanese children with a Filipino or Thai parent

Since 1987, the ratio of Japanese children with Filipino fathers to those with Filipino mothers has climbed from over 0.01 to more than 0.04 -- meaning the odds that such a child will have a Filipino father. The equivalent father/mother ratio has run from under 100 to less than 25 -- meaning, inversely, the odds that the child will have a Filipino mother.

While the Filipino population in Japan includes older and even native components, it is more clearly composed of recent migrants, predominately women who have come with the explit purpose of marrying a Japanese man. The Philippines has, in fact, been a major source of foreign brides for rural Japanese men, and not such marriages have been arranged, if not legally established, in advance of the woman's coming to Japan.

Note that the lower father/mother ratio (higher mother/father ratio) for Thais has also fallen during the same period and for the essentially same reason. The international bride market seems to have peaked for Thai women in 2000 and for Filipino women in 2006.

Japanese children with a Chinese parent

The ratios for Japanese children with a Chinese parent also suggest greater likelihoods of having a Chinese mother. They, like ratios for Japanese Children with a Korean parent, have been fairly stable over the past two decades, but at a level hovering around 0.3 for the father/mother ratio and 3.3 for the inverse mother/father ratio.

The 3.3 mother/father ratio stands against a roughly 10-times greater number marriages between Chinese women and Japanese men than between Chinese men and Japanese women -- unlike Korean-Japanese marriages, which are about the same either way.

I suspect that significantly more Chinese wives of Japanese men are naturalizing soon after their marriage, hence their children would be registered as born to a Japanese mother and father.

Japanese children with a Brazilian or Peruvian parent

The ratios for Japanese children with a Brazilian or Peruvian parent have shifted from the odds of having a foreign mother to the odds of having a foreign father. The Brazilian figures have to be understood against the conspicuous reversal, during the same period, of higher numbers of Brazilian women marrying Japanese, to slightly higher numbers of Brazilian men marrying Japanese.

Interestingly, the Peruvian ratios show a slightly greater tendency than the Brazilian ratios for the father to be a foreigner. Again, this difference is a superficial artifact of the conspiracy of underlying dynamics that would have to be examined through other data.

Japanese children with an American parent

Of interest here is the extremely low ratio of Japanese children with American mothers to those with American fathers -- meaning a very high ratio of American fathers to American mothers of Japanese children. These ratios are most likely a fairly direct reflection of the much greater numbers of marriages between American men and Japanese women.

However -- whereas there has been a roughly 7-fold greater number of American men marrying Japanese women than American women marrying Japanese men, about 14-times as many Japanese are born with American fathers than with American mothers. Again -- as with above comparisons of these two ratios -- the ratios cannot be directly compared, as they are not of the same statistical quality -- i.e., they are based on different populations.

Non-Japanese children born in Japan

There are, of course, alien children born in Japan to parents of the same or different foreign nationalities. These children number RESUME REVISE WITH RESPECT TO OVERSEAS REMARKS

Japanese children born overseas

Forthcoming.

Copyright © by William Wetherall
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