10/08/2026
Self care in pregnancy: Japan vs US 🇯🇵🇺🇸
Someone asked me what self care looks like for pregnant women in Japan, and I loved the question so much I’m turning it into a series. Over the next few videos we’ll cover pregnancy, birth, postpartum, and what I’d personally take from each culture and bring to the other.
First though, I have to start here: “self care” as a concept doesn’t really exist in Japan, at least not the way it does in the US. Care flows through family here, not through yourself. And there’s a cultural value called gaman, enduring quietly, that shapes a lot of this too (more on that in the birth video).
Of course, this is my experience, as an American living in Tokyo, married into a Japanese family, working with almost 90 families over the past year. Japan isn’t a monolith and no single experience represents the whole country. This is just the lens I’m working from. I consider myself an expert in birth, not an expert on Japan.
Hit follow Kathleen Rowan | Birth & Postpartum for part 2
