Birth control in Japan has been available since at least the 17th century, and its evolution has been informed by political, social, and economic contexts. Prior to World War I common forms of birth control included abortion, infanticide, and condoms. Birth control as an oral contraceptive, while known in intellectual circles, was not widely circulated until the interwar period when the debate over birth control gained public support and momentum. However, it was the militarists, whose goal of achieving a strong population in order to establish Japan as an international power prevailed, as Japan prepared to enter World War II. The end of World War II, and Japan's subsequent demilitarization brought an emphasis on population reduction by the US-led occupation SCAP (Supreme Command for the Allied Powers) who were fearful of a rise in communism or militarism which would create a threat to democracy and the "free-world."
Today various types of birth control in Japan are available to women either in drugstores, online, or through visiting a clinic. About 80 percent of married women in Japan prefer condoms as their choice of birth control. Other forms of birth control such as the morning after pill are available only through visitation of a clinic and oral contraceptives, which were legalized in 1999, are not covered by Japanese health insurance. Emergency contraceptive pills were approved by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare of Japan in 2011 and as of February 2026 can be obtained over-the-counter from licensed pharmacists.
History Infanticide as birth control was common in pre-modern Japan. In the feudal Edo era the common slang for infanticide was mabiki (間引き), which means to pull plants from an overcrowded garden. A typical method in Japan was smothering the baby's mouth and nose with wet paper.Shiono, Hiroshi; Atoyo Maya; Noriko Tabata; Masataka Fujiwara; Jun-ich Azumi; Mashahiko Morita (1986). "Medicolegal aspects of infanticide in Hokkaido District, Japan". American Journal of Forensic Medicine and Pathology. 7 (2): 104–06. doi:10.1097/00000433-198607020-00004. PMID 3740005. S2CID 483615. It became common as a method of population control. Farmers would often kill their second or third sons. Daughters were usually spared, as they could be married off, sold off as servants or prostitutes, or sent off to become geishas."Infanticide in Japan: Sign of the Times?". The New York Times. 8 December 1973. Archivedfrom the original on 3 March 2018. Retrieved 1 September 2017. Mabiki persisted in the 19th century and early 20th century.Vaux, Kenneth (1989). Birth Ethics. New York: Crossroad. p. 12. According to one estimate, at least 97% of homicide victims in Japan in 1900 were newborns.Drixler, Fabian; Matsuzaki, Reo (2024). "Façade Fictions: False Statistics and Spheres of Autonomy in Meiji Japan". Politics & Society. doi:10.1177/00323292241253135. ISSN 0032-3292. To bear twins was perceived as barbarous and unlucky and efforts were made to hide or kill one or both twins."Science: Japanese Twins". Time. 9 November 1936. Archived from the original on 6 June 2019. Retrieved 19 March 2015.
After ending a long period as a "closed" country in 1854, Japan began assessing what it meant to be a modern country on the global stage. Noting the strength and power afforded to large militaries, Japan began investing in the quantity and quality of its population as a reserve for its armed forces by encouraging the woman's role in the domestic sphere; however, policies encouraging this were largely ineffective. The creation of Japan's 1880 penal code, and its subsequent revision in 1907, stipulated that the punishment for abortion would be up to one year in prison. “Good Wife, Wise Mother” ideology was also strengthened at this time as the government outlined a woman's civic responsibility as a citizen through their participation in the domestic sphere. These measures, however, did not fully quell Japanese women's resistance and interest in gender relations, and by the end of the 19th century Japanese feminists were evaluating the pros and cons of birth control in different editorials.
The end of World War I ushered in a new wave of the birth control movement resulting from economic instability caused by Japan's economic deflation after the war. Sparked by the visit of Margaret Sanger to Japan in 1922, and through the dissemination of printed information, and the opening of clinics, birth control became widely understood by the general public. Governmental thinking of population as a marker for national power and international strength, however, remained steadfast and led the Japanese government to ban the sale and use of birth control in the 1930s, considering it harmful to the user.
In 1953 the Japanese Ministry of Health and Welfare established the Japan Family Planning Association (JFPA); however, no government funding was provided. By the 1960s Japan's Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare had begun considering the legalization of birth control pills, but by 1989, they had still not reached a decision. There were concerns that access to birth control pills would reduce condom use, and thereby increase STI rates. There were also concerns about the medication's side effects. In 1999, low dose forms of the pill were approved by the Clinic of Japan Family Planning Association, coinciding with the acceptance of the erectile dysfunction drug Viagra. Emergency contraceptive pills were approved by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare of Japan in 2011; and approved for over-the-counter use in February 2026.
Pre-World War I (1854–1914) In an attempt to limit contact between Japan and foreign nationals, Japan closed its ports to all foreign countries except for Chinese and Dutch merchant vessels through the port of Nagasaki. Japan remained a "closed" country until 1854 when United States Naval Commodore Matthew C. Perry docked at Edo Bay and requested a commercial treaty with the Tokugawa shogunate though gunboat diplomacy. As a country closed to foreign nationals for nearly two centuries, Japan was thrust into a chaotic international environment. Realizing their military shortcomings, compared to other countries, Japanese elites in the late Edo period began contemplating ways of strengthening Japan's military; they examined the population for quantity and quality, which were seen as a markers for national power, and encouraged reproduction to grow national strength. Ultimately, the encouragement of reproductive practices proved ineffective at inspiring reproduction and abortion and infanticide became increasingly common. Condemning this behavior as murderous and immoral the government began actively discouraging abortions, began banning signs promoting abortion services, required all pregnancies to be reported, threatened execution for infanticide, and ultimately implemented a ban on all abortions in 1842. It was not until 1880, after the Meiji Restoration and the creation of Japan's first penal code that abortion and infanticide, on the basis of moral and economic reasoning, were declared a crime. In 1907 a revision to the penal code intensified the punishment for abortion with a possible sentence of up to one year in prison. This penal code still exists today. Contraception in Japan was seen by elites in both the Edo and Meiji periods as a weakening of national strength, and encouraged strict regulation of women's reproductive role in society. These regulations became a national policy, fukoku kyohei (enrich the country, strengthen the military), under the Meiji government.
The Meiji government not only pursued military power, it also further restricted gender ideologies. While some women did speak publicly for equal rights in the Freedom and People's Rights Movement (自由民権運動, Jiyū Minken Undō) in the 1880s, the government attempted to silence most suffrage movements with laws like the Political Assembly and Association Law (Shûkai Oyobi Seisha Hô) of 1890 and the Public Peace Police Law (Chian Keisatsu Hô) of 1900. These laws barred women, among others, from joining or attending political associations and meetings. Ideologies such as Good Wife, Wise Mother (良妻賢母, ryōsai-kenbo) were also fortified at this time; it was argued by some that this policy put the health and well-being of women at risk. In 1880 the Japanese government outlined an idealized role for women within the domestic sphere through an education policy that sought to solidify a woman's civic responsibility to the state through domesticity. Western ideals concerning gender relations were not included in women's education in Japan until after the ban on Christianity was lifted and Christian institutions run by missionaries began teaching women about female equality. Despite women's inability to politically participate in society and their subjugation to the domestic sphere and the ie (Japanese family system), which linked sexuality and reproduction to a woman's role as a citizen of the nation-state and therefore overseen by the government, women continued to make their voices heard through newspapers and journals. It was here, thanks in part to their education on gender relations, that women expressed their opinions on female sexuality and a women's role in Japanese society. Journals like Bluestocking (青鞜, Seitō) rigorously debated the pros and cons of birth control in all its forms-abortion, infanticide, abandonment, condoms, oral contraceptives, et cetera. This is where birth control as an oral contraceptive was first introduced. The thinking about the uses and types of birth control were varied: Harada Satsuki supported all forms of birth control, focusing her argument on a woman's right to have control over her body; Itō Noe defended the use of oral contraception or condoms, but not abortion which she considered murder; Yamada Waka rejected all forms of birth control, believing in the protection of the child. While knowledge of abortion, infanticide, and rubber condoms, introduced by Dutch traders in 1867 and later manufactured in Japan in 1909, were well known among the Japanese population, birth control as an oral contraceptive was primarily discussed among intellectual and academic circles, and only began to make its way to the Japanese public after World War I.
Interwar Period (1918–1939) Birth control in Japan remained largely out of the public eye until after World War I. As Japan's prosperity grew, resulting from rapid industrialization during the war, so too did rapid inflation, which by 1920 had begun slowing down as Japan entered a phase of deflation that lasted until 1932. As the economy gained momentum, so did the birth rate, and by 1922 Japan was considered to be one of the world's most densely populated countries. Neo-Malthusianism was also gaining prominence at this time which led to laborers and farmers protesting economic instability within Japan. An economic theory introduced by the English, neo-malthusianism theorized that by controlling the size of the population of a country, social revolution due to catastrophes like war, disease, and famine could be avoided. This led to a polarization between groups advocating for and against oral contraception as a form of birth control in Japan. Those against the use of birth control were advocating for the need of a large, strong population that would establish Japan's international power; others saw overpopulation as threatening the peace of the country, which could lead to war. It was against this backdrop that American birth control activist, Margaret Sanger, visited Japan at the invitation of the Kaizo Publishing Company. Sanger was known by some in Japan thanks to previous publications of Sanger's work in kaizō (改造) magazine.