Today the majority of Japanese families live in urban areas, and for most
there is no longer a physical ie which has been passed down through the
generations. Typically a married couple will set up home in a rented apartment, perhaps with the long-term goal of eventually buying their own
freestanding house. Statistics about living arrangements in Japan show a
decreasing proportion of three generation families, but the proportion of
couples with children is also decreasing, and in 2000 stood at just under
one-third. Little can be discerned from these figures about how many units
are entirely independent and how many still have obligations to each other.
It is not unusual for an elderly parent to move in with a son or daughter in
later life, for example, or perhaps to come and live near enough to share hot
soup. Other young people living with their children have only sporadic
relations with the previous generation.