Fertility differentials of Japanese women in Japan, Hawaii, and California

Abstract

A unique opportunity for a study on the fertility patterns of Japanese women residing in different geographical areas is afforded by the coordinated tripartite survey on the "Study of Shifts in Cancer Risks for Specific Sites among Japanese Migrants" conducted in Japan, Hawaii, and California, This cancer study is sponsored by the U. S. National Cancer Institute, the Tohoku University School of Medicine (Sendai, Japan), the University of Hawaii School of Public Health, and the California Department of Public Health, The study's overall purpose is the evaluation of whether health problems of the Japanese change as they adapt to other social and cultural surroundings. Data have been derived from personal interviews of Japanese persons 35 years and over in representative household samples in the states of Hawaii and California, and the prefectures of Miyagi and Hiroshima.The interviews, carried out as part of the larger study of changes in cancer risks among Japanese migrants to the United States, include basic information on fertility characteristics on selected samples of the Japanese ever-married female population in Japan and the United States. The present report focuses on the comparison of married Japanese women residing in four different geographical locations to examine if any marked variations exist in their fertility patterns.