Rite of passage

A celebration, emotional experience, or transitional moment in life when an individual leaves one social group to enter another. A rite of passage involves a significant change of status in society, where the individual grows and becomes more enlightened.

Our client wanted to understand ‘motherhood’ in Japan and China – the daily life of mums and the cultural and emotional impact women experience, as they become mums.

Our ethnographic research highlighted the experience of mothers in Japan and China as the most dominant rite of passage for women in both places, marking the real separation between being a girl and becoming a real woman, respected and honoured in society. The emotional longing for motherhood is strong, as women know they have to become mothers before they can be truly perceived as being real women.

In both modern China and Japan there is a genuine tension between their yearning to do what is perceived as cultural duty, and a desire to follow one’s ambitions as young and aspirational women.