Hello! This is Shinagawa from Corunum's Intergenerational Exchange Department.
This blog will explore the challenges of a nuclear family society, where human interactions are diminishing, and provide insight into the roles and significance of volunteer groups like ours.
What is Nuclear Familyization in the frist place ?
First, I will provide an explanation of the term 'nuclear familyization.
To understand the whole concept, it is necessary to know about "Nuclear Family Household", which is .....
① Household consisting only of a Couple
② Household with a Couple and their Unmarried Children
③ Single-parent household with Unmarried Children
Households that meet any of these conditions above are know as Nuclear Family.
In Japan, concerns about changes in the social structure, including population dynamics and family structure are spreading.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications has also pointed out issues related to nuclear familyization in this report.
The Current State of Nuclear Family Households
The opposite of a nuclear family is an extended family (where three or more generations live together). In recent years, the increase in nuclear family households and the corresponding decline in extended families have become significant issues.
By 2050, it is projected that out of a total of 4,206 households, approximately 90% will consist of single-person households and nuclear families, while the remaining 10% will be made up of other types of households, including extended families.
This issue can be attributed to factors such as the development of new technologies to support child-rearing, advancements in gender equality, and changes in lifestyles do to industrialization and urbanization.
Additionally, according to the previously mentioned Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications report, nuclear familyization is cited as one of the factors contributing to the decline in the total population. It is no exaggeration to say that this is one of the root causes of social issues faced not only by Japan but by the entire world.
Issues with Nuclear Familyization
So, why is the increase in nuclear families and single-person households a problem? This article will explore the challenges associated with nuclear familyization.
Several issues are associated with this trend. For instance, in nuclear families consisting only of elderly members, there may be a need for elderly individuals to care for one another, leading to "elderly-to-elderly" caregiving. In single-person households, there is a concern about the rapid progression of dementia among the elderly. Additionally, there is an increased burden related to household chores and childcare. These social changes highlight the need for a re-evaluation of social welfare systems.
In this discussion, we will focus on the issue of how the decline in extended families results in a loss of opportunities for intergenerational interaction.
While it's true that single-person and nuclear family households offer more "freedom" in terms of personal relationships, they can also appear to be more "isolated" at the same time.
Benefits and Necessity of Intergenerational Interaction
In today's digital society, where many people actively avoid interpersonal interactions regardless of living in nuclear families, why is intergenerational interaction still necessary? The answer lies in the numerous benefits that intergenerational engagement brings.
For example, forming multigenerational networks within families and communities can contribute to both physical and mental health. This can lead to benefits such as preventing illnesses in the elderly and alleviating loneliness in children. Additionally, it can help revitalize local communities.
Multigenerational interaction facilitates the exchange of various types of information, which can reduce daily burdens. In the event of emergencies, such as incidents or disasters, mutual aid among local residents becomes crucial.
In such situations, having a multigenerational network within the community can lead to quicker resolution and mutual assistance. Moreover, through this network, monitoring and supporting children and the elderly can help prevent incidents and accidents before they occur.
These reasons underscore the importance of maintaining multigenerational interactions even in the face of increasing nuclear family structures in modern times. However, it can be challenging to know how to foster such interactions effectively.
The approach and efforts of CORUNUM
At CORUNUM, we understand the importance of intergenerational interaction. With the cooperation of many organizations, gladly enable to organize intergenerational exchange events in various communities. People from children to the elderly participate in these events, providnig a place where diverse generations can get togther. We aim to promote intergenerational connections that help address the challenges of a nuclear family society.
Participants often share feedback with us, such as, "It was refreshing and enjoyable to interact with generations I don’t usually engage with!"
However, when people hear the word "volunteering," they may associate it with a high level of commitment and hesitate to get involved. To help more people discover the joy of volunteering, we would like to introduce some of the benefits of participating in volunteer activities.
From my perspective there are mainly two benifits.
① Building Connections Through Intergenerational Exchange
In volunteer activities, you have the opportunity to meet and interact with many people, including teammates and participants in the various programs.
By engaging with participants of the programs, you can connect with people from different generations—those you may not usually encounter in your daily school life—and gain new insights through conversations.
Furthermore, your teammates in these activities often come from different schools and grade levels, sharing the same passion. This broadens your communication horizons. Above all, many of the people involved are compassionate and kind, each possessing unique abilities, providing positive inspiration through the activites.
As mentioned earlier, in recent years, many people tend to avoid personal interactions. However, through volunteer activities, we believe you can discover the joy of connecting with others.
② The Experience of Spending Time with People from Diverse Backgrounds
At CORUNUM, we handle everything from planning to execution and reflection as a team, which allows us to gain valuable experience in successfully managing events. The sense of fulfillment from seeing participants enjoy the activities and receiving words of gratitude is one of the key rewards of volunteer work.
CORUNUM has various departments and roles, allowing members to engage in activities that leverage their unique skills or help them overcome challenges. Each member approaches their activities with different goals. Although time constraints are often considered a downside of volunteering, as mentioned earlier, CORUNUM offers various roles, and many of the meetings are held online, making it easy to manage time flexibly.
As you can see, there are many advantages to volunteering at CORUNUM. We hope this blog has helped you understand the importance and joy of volunteering.
Why not join us and be part of our activities?
For more detail about our organization, please click the banner below.
Works Cited
（１）Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW), Explantaion of key words
（２）Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, Current Status of the Promotion
of Municipal Mergers