[8] In addition to these duties, a wife will have the burdens of child rearing, household and financial management, and in many cases a share of the agricultural work.
[13] The practice of importing brides is further encouraged by some local governments, which have established matchmaking and marriage counseling services.
[4] The broker's goal is to facilitate the transition for the foreign brides and arrange the dowry to be paid by the woman's family.
Gorman introduces Keiko, an assumed name of a Chinese broker, and discusses her recruiting and business strategy in her native China.
[4] Although much of this industry is private, local governments have become more involved due to the declining birthrates and the less than enthusiastic appeal of rural bachelors.
In fact, the first government to establish a claim and promote the foreign bride service occurred as early as 1985 in a rural village of the Yamagata prefecture.
[14] Though foreign brides are exported to all parts of Japan, the vast majority are being sent to rural villages and prefectures.
Tomoko Nakamatsu, author of Faces of "Asian Brides" goes on further to state: A large number of local governments in rural areas had implemented programmes to encourage (domestic) marriage among their residents.
[6] But with the 1980s economic boom, the newly cemented middle/upper middle class population seized control of the international arena, and with it came the birth of the foreign bride trade in Japan.
[14] Most foreign wives are of Asian descent because Western women and Japanese men tend to regard one another as undesirable marriage partners, for reasons of physical attractiveness and cultural values.
In the article, a Filipino mayor criticized the foreign bride business in his country, stating that his government was "giving away unspoiled women in the countryside."
[13] While the practice of importing foreign wives has been present in Japanese society for more than thirty years, it is still too soon to understand the long-term effects.
[14] The inability to determine the effects is because foreign bride importation is still not a common enough occurrence to get the solid data needed to comprise a thorough statistical analysis.
As the marriage broker Keiko noted, there have been cases of the women returning to China or disappearing to urban Japan.
These women are not given citizenship immediately and may or may not have the skills to seek the protection of the Japanese judiciary system should the husband be abusive.
Whether divorce will affect the residency status of the individual depends on the visa held at the time of marital dissolution.
Basically, any kind of visa which is not reliant on being married will not be affected by divorce and can be renewed as long as the criteria under which it was issued remain valid.
For those holding a Spouse Visa, the presence or absence of children is a key element in deterring the new residency status.
[17] When the relationship has produced offspring and the foreign spouse gets custody of the children, then a Long Term Resident Visa (teijuusha) can be applied for, which is renewable indefinitely.
In most of these types of divorce cases, the foreign wife gets custody of the children and generally there is little conflict regarding this particular aspect.
According to a Justice Ministry directive issued on 30 July 1996, foreigners who have custody of their legitimate children with Japanese nationality, and who are actually taking care of the children in Japan, are entitled to receive a Long Term Resident Visa (teijūsha) or Permanent Resident Status (eijūsha).
Language difficulties often prevent foreign spouses from engaging in paid employment during their initial first few years in Japan.
[18] Since the birth rate has been in a steady decline over the last 30 years, some outside force has to increase the population in order for Japanese society to continue to exist in the long term.
Many scholars such as Kosai, Saito and Yashiro have argued that in order to reverse the declining population trend they must reduce the disparity between the advantages of continuing to work and the costs of childcare for women.
The money paid to the woman's family can be a huge financial boon based upon the humble situations that the women are recruited from.
Anthropologists have long accepted the institution of marriage as a key method of extending kinships and promoting social relations.
If the experiences of the immigrant wives are good then it is possible for the rest of Asia to begin to view Japan as the peaceful nation that it has become since the end of World War II.