Insights from Vital Statistics Data

 The overarching goals of this and the following two chapters are to describe what we currently know and to suggest what we can know about remarriage based on existing national survey data in Japan. In doing so, we hope to provide a useful empirical foundation upon which to base subsequent research that advances our understanding of the correlates and consequences of remarriage using new data and methods. In this chapter, we systematically summarize the information on remarriages available from the annual Vital Statistics reports. These data are particularly valuable given that the tabulations are based on marriage registration data and thus reflect behavior of the entire population of Japan and that the published tables cover a reasonably long period of time, allowing for documentation of trends.