4 Surprises of Pregnancy and Childbirth in Japan

White bodies, American expectations, and Japanese institutions

Black and white image shows a light-skinned pregnant person. The person has fabric wrapped around their hips but is otherwise naked. The person is hugging their own breast. The focus of the photo is the large pregnant belly, likely from the third trimester of pregnancy. Photo by Alexander Krivitskiy on Unsplash.

Around Halloween 2018, I got knocked up. It was intentional, my kid is healthy, all’s well that ends well.

But there were surprises — several many surprises — in store for me as an American woman pregnant and giving birth in Japan.