This book provides the first comprehensive demographic overview of remarriage in Japan. Despite the fact that nearly one in five marriages in Japan now involves at least one formerly married spouse, very little is known about the nature of remarriages and how they differ from first marriages. One important focus of this book is to examine fertility intentions and outcomes in remarriages and to compare them with marriages in which both partners are in their first marriage. It is well known that low rates of first marriage contribute to Japan-s very low total fertility rate (TFR), but there is currently no theoretical or empirical basis for understanding how levels and patterns of remarriage are related to the TFR. To understand trends and patterns of remarriage in Japan, the book begins with an overview of the voluminous research literature on remarriage in the USA and other Western countries. This overview consists of a summary of trends and theoretical frameworks for understanding rem
