Workshops
Ultra-Low Birth Rate in East Asia: Care, Crisis Discourses, and Collaborative Responses
In this program, we will examine Japan’s declining birth rates through the lens of “care” (kea, ケア) and the evolving discourse of “who cares” that gained renewed attention in the aftermath of the 3.11 disaster and the COVID-19 pandemic. With guidance from Professor Andrea Gevurtz Arai, we will explore how these conversations have centered on reproductive labor in the home, described by some as the “nerve center of the production of labor power,” and how moments of crisis, including irradiation and infection, have intensified the pressure on gendered expectations of continuous caregiving.