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Paper short abstract

The primary motivation behind the Eugenics Protection Act of 1948, namely reducing fertility, is now tending to disappear under the ethical condemnation of eugenics. This paper seeks to analyse the context in which the word yūsei was used during the drafting and implementation of the 1948 law.

Paper long abstract

The Eugenic Protection Law (Yūsei hogohō) was enacted on 13 July 1948 and amended several times before undergoing a fundamental revision in 1996: the word ‘eugenics (yūsei)’ was removed from its title and content.

This process has led to a hasty conclusion that eugenics has disappeared, at least within the framework of the 1948 law. In this paper, I analyse the context in which the word yūsei was used during the drafting and implementation of the 1948 law, and propose the hypothesis that its scope was gradually narrowed down to eugenics related to the health status of prospective parents. This obscured its links with hybrid movements promoted by the authorities with the active participation of the populations concerned, such as the “movement for à new life (Shinseikatsu undō)” and family planning (kazoku keikaku).

The primary motivation behind these policies, namely reducing fertility, is now tending to disappear under the ethical condemnation of eugenics, whereas without this legislative mechanism, the decline in fertility could not have taken place in a manner consistent with the law (e.g. abortion, sterilisation). It is therefore essential to situate it in relation to today's declining birth rate and the pro-natalist policies pursued since the 1990s, which are completely disconnected from the eugenic model of reproduction established after the war.

What did ‘eugenics’ mean under the 1948 law? This paper seeks to answer this question by examining the discussions that took place in the Diet during the drafting of the law, its structure, and the points that were removed in 1996, in order to highlight the types of reproduction that were encouraged, and conversely repressed, under Japan’s broad eugenics policy.