L'emploi du temps au Japon

Hiromasa Suzuki describes here the various changes since 1970 in how time is spent in Japan. After setting out the major changes that have occurred in lifestyles (quality of life, division of labour between the sexes, time spent on work, leisure, etc.), the author stresses two key trends in Japan: a reduction in so-called “constrained time” (mainly paid employment and housework) and greater diversity of lifestyles (a shift in the active day towards the evening, more varied schedules). He raises some questions to ponder about ways of adapting things like community services to these changes, but the big unknown remains how the Japanese will spend their increased leisure time in the future.