When I was first given this essay, I was a bit daunted by the task ahead of me. I was, needless to say, extremely stressed about how the project would turn out, and the amount of time that had to be put into this project for it to come out well. I began my research process, by searching the news and recent articles for impactful issues from all over the world to find one that peaked my interest. I saw an article about Japan's "Fertility Crisis" during my search, and decided it sounded interesting. I did a little research on the topic before I made up my mind. Once I had just enough knowledge of my topic, I formulated a loose hypothesis of what the effects and causes of the fertility crisis were.
Before I initiated my in-depth research, I expected to find that the fertility crisis was caused by young people neglecting the idea of romance because it just didn't interest them. Upon looking closer, and doing more research, I discovered that the fertility crisis, or drop in birth rate, was mainly caused by the long hours of overtime forced on the workers, especially those fresh from university. The overtime is forced upon the workers because it is viewed as rude for a person of a lower position to leave work before their superiors, or as soon as their official hours are over. Young couples have little to no free time outside of their jobs due to this, and often have to sacrifice their time together. This is pushing couples apart, and ensuring that fewer children are born, since the couple also wouldn't have time to care for it. After learning all of this, I refined my hypothesis as it became my thesis, that overtime and cultural expectations were causing the fertility crisis.
While doing research for my topic, I encountered a few bumps. I was having trouble finding sources. I figured it was because of my phrasing of my search criteria, and broadened the range of my search. I also tried searching using different words. Once I tried this, I found a multitude of sources to reference. Since I began my research on the fertility crisis in Japan, there have been no new developments, aside from the increase of media coverage.
Before I initiated my in-depth research, I expected to find that the fertility crisis was caused by young people neglecting the idea of romance because it just didn't interest them. Upon looking closer, and doing more research, I discovered that the fertility crisis, or drop in birth rate, was mainly caused by the long hours of overtime forced on the workers, especially those fresh from university. The overtime is forced upon the workers because it is viewed as rude for a person of a lower position to leave work before their superiors, or as soon as their official hours are over. Young couples have little to no free time outside of their jobs due to this, and often have to sacrifice their time together. This is pushing couples apart, and ensuring that fewer children are born, since the couple also wouldn't have time to care for it. After learning all of this, I refined my hypothesis as it became my thesis, that overtime and cultural expectations were causing the fertility crisis.
While doing research for my topic, I encountered a few bumps. I was having trouble finding sources. I figured it was because of my phrasing of my search criteria, and broadened the range of my search. I also tried searching using different words. Once I tried this, I found a multitude of sources to reference. Since I began my research on the fertility crisis in Japan, there have been no new developments, aside from the increase of media coverage.
Header image borrowed from: Asian Gaming Brief: http://agbrief.com/news/japan-ggr-expected-reach-us6-9-billion-fitch