Transnational Marriages in Japan and Taiwan: Issues and Challenges

Abstract

The number of marriages between Japanese men and non-Japanese women has been steadily and rapidly increasing. The reasons for this trend are not hard to discern: low fertility, an aging population, depopulation in the rural hinterland, where single farmers or fisherman cannot find a suitable marriage partner (Shukuya, 1988;; Knight, 1995; Chiou, 2005:87). The ubiquitous use, however, of the inter-net has facilitated this tendency for Mail-Order Brides (MOBs) through on-line match-making or correspondence by email or even text messaging. Nevertheless the use of individual or professional matchmakers are more the rule, the more especially since they conform to the traditional established steps leading to arranged marriage after a very short courtship (Hsia, 2000). Yet, they are different in this respect: the bride, although Asian, comes from outside Japan and another cultural setting. In consequence, such unions are known as 'commercial marriage migration' (Lu, 2005), 'cross-border marriages' (Wang and Shen, 2003), 'cross-border migration marriages' (Piper 2003) or 'international marriages' (Hwang and Saenz and Aguirre 1995; Barclay 2005). Now, let us turn our attention to Taiwan. As the process of democratization progressed and Taiwan's growing economic investment on the Chinese mainland, the lifting of the ban in the 1980s on visiting relatives in the People's Republic of China permitted Taiwanese who fled the mainland after 1949, to return as tourists. Taiwan shares a similar social context as Japan, and so, has faced the same challenges when it came to marriage. Therefore, rapid economic development created conditions which contributed to marrying foreign brides from mainland China, Vietnam, and Southeast Asia. Despite much unfavorable social problems resulting from cross-border marriages, the number kept increasing until the central government tightened restrictions on such unions. For example, Taiwanese authorities imposed rigorous interviews in order to determine the future spouse's eligibility, be he a groom or she a bride (Chen, 2005:34; Nagamochi, 2005). Consequently, newer regulations (see Table 2) have hindered sham marriages, reduced the trend to illegal work, and pushed brides to tend to the hearth in a normal and more traditional family setting.