ABSTRACT
The chapter explores the intersection of fertility, nation and gender, focusing on the cultural meanings ascribed to declining fertility rates in the public discourse in Japan and Norway. Although the fertility rates in Japan and Norway are rather similar, the structural, social and cultural factors surrounding them differ. Intrigued by these similarities and differences, we explore how the national fertility rates are perceived and interpreted in the two contexts, specifically regarding the kinds of explanations and measures that are launched in the public discourse. Working within a theoretical framework of biopolitics, we seek to understand how cultural notions of fertility rates are closely related to cultural conceptions of both gender and nation. The data material consists of white papers, political statements, newspapers and other news media items published in both Japan and Norway between 2013 and 2020.
