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7 pc of babies born in Tokyo have non-Japanese parent

Japan Policy & Politics, Oct 11, 1999

TOKYO, Oct. 8 Kyodo

One in 14 babies born in Tokyo's 23 wards in 1997 had at least one non-Japanese parent, according to the results of a study reported Friday in a Japanese daily.

In the city of Osaka, one in 13 babies, or 7.6%, born in the same period had at least one non-Japanese parent, according to the study conducted by Setsuko Lee, associate professor of nursing at Tokyo Women's Medical College, the Asahi Shimbun reported in its evening editions.

The ratio is notably higher in Tokyo's Minato and Shinjuku wards, with 20% of all babies falling under the classification. Shibuya and Toshima wards had 16.6% each.

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The percentage for the country as a whole rose to 2.8%, up 0.1 percentage point from the previous year, as 33,748 of 1,203,888 babies born in Japan in 1997 had at least one non-Japanese parent, 1.9 times higher than in 1987.

These figures reflect a "baby boom" among non-Japanese couples -- whose ranks grew in the late 1980s bubble economy -- and among couples in which one partner is non-Japanese, in contrast with the continuing decline in birthrates among Japanese, the study said.

Babies whose parents were both non-Japanese totaled 12,223. Babies who had a non-Japanese mother and a Japanese father numbered 13,580 while the number of babies born between a Japanese mother and a non-Japanese father was 7,945.

By prefecture, the Tokyo metropolitan area had the highest percentage at 5.7%, followed by Osaka and Gunma, both at 4.0%, Kyoto at 3.8%, and Kanagawa and Nagano, both at 3.7 %.

Figures for Kyoto, Kobe, Nagoya and Kawasaki cities ranged from 4.0 to 5.0%.

By nationality, babies born of either South or North Korean mothers led with 6,991, followed by Filipinos with 6,024, Chinese with 5,168, and Brazilians with 3,143.

In Tokyo, Chinese mothers accounted for the highest number of these babies, while it was Korean mothers in Osaka and Kyoto and Brazilian mothers in Gunma. American mothers topped non-Japanese nationalities in Shibuya and Minato wards.

The study also showed that infant mortality rates among non-Japanese were higher than those for Japanese babies because of various difficulties -- such as an inability to obtain adequate medical treatment and language barriers -- involved in the birth and nurturing of babies.

The number of still births among Thai mothers, for example, was 2.1 times higher than among Japanese mothers. Among Peruvian mothers, the ratio was 1.4 times higher, the study said.

The number of deaths of babies who were born safely but died before turning one was 3.8 times and 2.3 times higher for Filipino and Thai mothers, respectively, than for Japanese mothers.

Lee used statistics compiled by the Health and Welfare Ministry and the Tokyo Metropolitan Maternal and Child Health Service Center.

As of 1998, there were 1.51 million foreigners, including Korean permanent residents, living in Japan, accounting for 1.2% of Japan's total population of 120 million.

In 1997, there were 20,902 marriages between non-Japanese women and Japanese men, and 7,349 marriages between Japanese women and non-Japanese men. This translated to a ratio of one international marriage in 28 marriages between Japanese.

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Government Industry

7 pc of babies born in Tokyo have non-Japanese parent

Japan Policy & Politics, Oct 11, 1999

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