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Although family sociology in Japan has a long history, sociological family studies in Japan have undergone major changes since the 1990s. This article recounts the ways in which family sociology in Japan has developed and its current state, with a special focus on the developments in the last three decades. The 1990s marked a turning point in the history of Japanese family sociology in terms of the establishment of new academic societies and a paradigmatic shift in theoretical orientations. The trends in family research articles indicate the continuing importance of quantitative research, with the role of qualitative research on the rise over the last two decades. In reviewing the literature over the last three decades, the author summarizes four major strands of empirical research: (a) care and families, (b) social inequality and families, (c) comparative research, and (d) diversity of families.

Two prominent theses on social change concur with regard to the on-going development of family systems in the process of general social change: the model of the "second demographic transition", suggested by the demographers van de Kaa and Lesthaeghe; and the model of "family change", proposed by the cross- cultural psychologist Kagitcibasi. This paper presents an empirical test based on an analysis of family change in Japan, a collectivistic, yet modernised society; and in Germany, a society characterised by 'Western' individualism. Our empirical test is based on 12 cumulated, representative surveys from these two societies, which together cover the family formation processes of 49,983 women born between 1915 and 1985. For both Germany and Japan, we examine the influence of educational inequality on family formation, and explore how it has changed over a period of 60 years, by means of multivariate Cox regression analyses. The two models emphasise different aspects of the change in the family formation process: although the changes point in the direction predicted by the second demographic transition model, the differences between the two societies have remained stable or have even widened, in line with the family change model.

グローバル化，個人化が進むなかで，家族に何が起こっているのか。この新たな課題に対して，いま家族研究に求められていることを，ライフコースの最後の段階，すなわち高齢期から照射してみようというのが，今回のシンポジウムの意図である。高齢化/超高齢化が高齢期家族関係をどのように変化させるのか，また世代間関係の変化が近代家族の変容とどのように結びつくのかについて，グローバル化・個人化という文脈に照準してなされた議論，および家族・親族関係を越えた高齢者の「つながり」をマクロな文脈との関連で論ずる議論は，まだそれほど多くは行われておらず，本テーマ設定の意義は小さくないと考える。今回はとくに，ミクロ-マクロを媒介するメゾシステムとしての「地域」に注目し，さらに研究と実践との対話を心がけた。家族研究への挑戦的な試みとして，社会学，NPO，法社会学の立場からのコラボレーションを企画した次第である。

Over the past few decades, in examining the social causes of low fertility in advanced societies, sociologists and demographers have shown increasing interest in southern European countries. Italy has been recognized as one of these countries plagued by lowest-low fertility. In general, the literature has depicted certain characteristics of Italian families as possible causes of fertility decline. This article examines the situation of contemporary Italian families and intergenerational relationships from a sociological point of view, particularly in comparison with Japanese families. It has sometimes been argued that strong familism characterizes Italian families and society. According to this view, one of the causes of fertility decline in Italy is the continuity of strong families. Empirical data suggest, however, that this familism perspective cannot explain the differences in family patterns observed among Italian regions. In addition, a comparison between Italy and Japan with respect to intergenerational relationships suggests that there are substantial differences between the two countries. It is suggested that a further exploration of the various aspects of social contexts is needed in order to clarify what is distinctive about contemporary Italian families.

This paper is based on the results of research by the Sumatra Earthquake Interdisciplinary or Integrated Research Team, Graduate School of Environmental Studies, Nagoya University. This research shows: (1) the Sumatra Earthquake tsunami disaster damage in Banda Aceh can be divided into four areas; (2) the tsunami action was directed left and right by the Banda Aceh topography; (3) within which District I saw total destruction of housing, a high death rate, and the collapse of families; (4) with the high death rate due to a lack of earthquake- tsunami association; (5) that even in the core of housing reconstruction, the pace is slow; (6) there are four main obstacles to housing reconstruction; (7) the slow pace of the reconstruction is a function of social causes related to the size of the tsunami, the lack of established adjustment mechanisms for aid groups, the slow pace of the recon- struction in society overall, and the failure of market functions; (8) that in the case of large scale disasters, with the loss of life and home, as well as infrastructure, the collapse of society as an entity occurs as well.