A brief note on the nuclear family debate. I wonder if the U-turn phenomenon is
acknowledged here: that is, the nuclear households which become three
generational at the time when the elderly parents become dependent. Also, I'm
interested in the "taraimawashi" situation, in which the elderly are circulated
among the siblings for care, either themselves moving or more llikely, the young
moving in turn to the parental residence. I'm particularly interested in these
things as I am investigating the rhetoric and realities of Japan's changing
population, and the evocation of an "Asian Family Welfare Model" keeps appearing
as a "solution" for the rise in the rate of the elderly. In any case, I would
like to see data on "temporary nuclear families".

Merry White
Boston University