There seems to be a wide gap in the way men and women view marriage. In a survey conducted by the Prime Minister's office in 1987, 52 percent of the male responders agreed with the concept that "a man should go to work, but a woman should stay home and keep house," while only twenty percent disagreed. In the follow-up survey conducted in 1990, the ratio of pros and cons turned out to be almost equal at 35 and 34 percent. However the proportion of disagreeing men was still smaller than the 43 percent of female responders.

Women generally believe that, while women's roles in Japan's postwar society have become diversified, men have essentially remained unchanged. Under such circumstances, communication between the sexes is far from easy.

Today, there has emerged the view that psychological factors may be responsible for the trouble men and women have in communication with each other. Thus, the mental aspect is beginning to loom as a major issue.

During the whole period from the Meiji era (1868—1912) to the end of World War II, marriage meant a union of families to most Japanese. It was a coming together of two families under Japan's time-honored family system. Therefore, not surprisingly, neither men nor women possessed the freedom to choose their own marriage partners.

After the war, such freedom was guaranteed by Article 24 of the new Constitution. But old customs do not change overnight, and the old family system persisted. At the door of a wedding party at a wedding hail you will see the familiar sign: "Wedding Ceremony of Family A and Family B."

Despite such outward appearances, however, individualism has begun to take root. The 50 years since the end of war may be regarded as the process of a shift from the family-centered to the individual-centered way of thinking.

Recently, especially in the cities, there have appeared many phenomena that suggest that the Japanese are freeing themselves from the rigid family system. Young people now regard their marriage in terms of the husband-and-wife unit. And marital bonds can now assume various forms, with some couples choosing not to have the wife's name entered in the family register and other selecting not to share a common domicile.

Of course, there is still a big difference between Japan's urban and rural districts. Conservative views still prevail in rural areas and it will likely take considerable time before people in the countryside come to think in the same way as Tokyo residents.