ABSTRACT
During the post-war period abortion initially was decriminalised, and this was followed by the endorsement of birth control by means of contraception in the name of family planning. This chapter reviews the political continuities and discontinuities surrounding reproduction during wartime and the post-war years. It examines the ways in which Japanese citizens reacted to state population policy during these periods. The transitions from the wartime 'bear children and multiply' policy to the post-war family planning movement was certainly a complete reversal of state population policy, in the sense that it was a shift from population increase to birth suppression. During the post-war period, however, the majority of citizens willingly accepted the new state policy of family planning, resulting in achievement of a low birth rate in an extremely short period. Rather, the management of biopower was embodied in a new form, namely, the family planning movement. The birth rate in 1957 was dropped to 2.04, and remained stable until 1973.
