Kokusai Kekkon: adjustment and coping strategies

• Main Author: Kato, Eiko
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 1991
• Subjects: Coping behavior; Adjustment (Psychology); Marriage; Intermarriage; Husband and wife; Psychology
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etd_masteral/1906
• Institution: De La Salle University

This study deals on the problems met by Japanese wives in the process of adjusting to their Filipino husbands. It likewise identifies the coping strategies of Japanese wives when faced with marital problems. The study is exploratory. It is a qualitative research. It deals primarily with the problems of intermarriage of Filipino-Japanese couples, specifically Filipino husbands and Japanese wives. Interviews with 15 key informants were conducted, using the Japanese language in most cases. The research also made use of questionnaires. It covered several aspects, among them, the respondents' profile, Japanese women's satisfaction with their marriage, pattern of husband-wife relation-ship, role expectations, Japanese wives' relationship with the family and relatives of their husbands and adjustment to certain social arrangements. Out of 15 respondents interviewed, five were selected for life history cases, typifying the general experiences of the 15 respondents. In-depth interviews were free flowing and unstructured. Among the many problems cited, the Filipino husbands' inclination to close family ties or kamag-anak appeared to be the most problematic in the marital relationship. However, Japanese wives have the tendency to tolerate the situation their coping mechanism seems to be that they complain to their husbands and later, just keep quiet and keep the feelings within themselves. Based on the results of the study, the inter-marriage of Filipino-Japanese couples may be classified into three categories: (1) Filipino husbands who have been stationed in the US base in Okinawa, southern islands of Japan, and married Japanese wives from Okinawa, (2) Filipino scholars who have studied in Japan and met their Japanese wives in Japan, and (3) Japanese women who have studied in the Philippines and later married Filipinos. The relatively younger women who fall under the third category have gained insight into Philippine culture while studying in the Philippines. They appeared to be better adjusted compared to the women of other categories. The study concludes that Japanese women who married Filipino men did not have much marital problems. The similarity in the Filipino and Japanese culture helped much in the marriage. In addition, Japanese women who married Filipino men possess modernized attitudes which made them more open-minded and liberal.