Abstract
The purpose of this article is to analyze the characteristics of changes in the structure of families in Hokkaido after the war. We shall focus on demographic trends, especially the curb of birth rate, and we shall also review the researches on families in Hokkaido.
What has become clear is that the birth-rate stabilization in Hokkaido after the war was brief, when compared to the national average. The simplification of the family structure and the change from a three-generation household to a smaller family pattern was one step ahead of the national trend. Many researches have found that the history of the family in Hokkaido has special characteristics which are related the above points. Whether in fishing or farming villages or in cities, "ie" or "mura" family network ties were very weak and each family had to maintain themselves independently, despite the severity of Hokkaido's economic and political climate after the war. In the period of high economic growth (1955-1973), many young people had to leave their families in rural Hokkaido and go to work in industrialized city in Honsyu.
We must seriously consider the resulting new networks between isolated and weak modern families to solve the problems of caring for dependent people in the family, especially older people, as we meet the "ageing society" of the 21st century in Hokkaido.
