One aspect of Japanese behavior different from the customary behavior in most Western countries is the Japanese tendency to call a spade a spade in everyday conversation and, by extension, the media. An example of this behavior that readily comes to mind is the lack of hesitancy on the part of Japanese to openly admit that theirs was a dekichatta kekkon—shotgun wedding.

Two articles about dekichatta kekkon have appeared recently in the local English-language media. This is the first, by English professor Kate Elwood in the Daily Yomiuri (Elwood also has appeared on NHK radio’s daily English lessons for junior high school students.) As befits an academic, her article is more sedate. She bases it on her interest in hearing the stories of how couples met or got married, and she also discusses o-miai, or meetings for arranged marriages. In fact, she begins the article by describing how her parents met. (Theirs was neither a dekichatta kekkon, nor did it result from an o-miai.)

Elwood suggests that one reason for the open discussion of this topic in Japanese society may be due to a 2001 Fuji TV drama titled Dekichatta Kekkon, starring popular actress Ryoko Hirosue (photo). I don’t think I would agree, having heard people talk about their own or other accelerated nuptials in private conversation or on TV long before that. Elwood herself tells the story that she first heard it in casual conversation while waiting for an elevator with some co-workers 20 years ago.

Elwood’s article is written in good taste, but that’s not an accusation that can be leveled at the Daily Mainichi’s WaiWai column, which never lets good taste get in the way of a good story. This column summarizes an article in the weekly magazine Shukan Gendai that asks, “Why do Japanese actresses refrain from using birth control?” They list several actresses who recently got married after getting pregnant first. (Ironically, one of those listed, Ryoko Hirosue, was the star of the Dekichatta Kekkon TV drama Ellwood mentions.) Then they proceed to discuss several reasons why the actresses don’t seem to be interested in contraceptives, with the most plausible being hubris.

But it takes two to tango, as they say, and they also devote space to why the men in show business don’t use contraceptives either. They quote physician Kimitoshi Yoneyama:

Men refrain from contraception because they want a beautiful woman to have their baby. If a beauty has their baby, there’s a considerable chance that the child will turn out to be good looking, with all the various benefits that brings with it and things become more advantageous for the child.

The result of something like this is that a man’s own genes are preserved for longer. Animal instincts come to work with men, which is why they’re so reluctant to use birth control with beautiful women.

There’s nothing surprising about any of this—it’s all evolutionary biology, which is what really makes the world go round. It is surprising, however, that Yoneyama and WaiWai didn’t extend this line of thinking to include the actresses as well. These same instincts have always been just as much a factor for women as for men, if not more so.