Culture in Japan is a lot more varied than it may seem from reading text books or wikipedia articles about it; like Aralith mentioned, there are almost two cultures with hugely different ideals at the moment in Japan, but I think it certainly extends beyond just the younger generation vs. the older generation (Although this is a very big aspect of it).
I lived in Japan as an exchange student for 12 months, and over the course of that time I lived with three very different families. The first family I lived with was most traditional in the sense that the wife was a house wife. She never worked, she stayed home all day long and did house work and prepared huge dinners. Mind you, this was a very odd system considering that in other aspects of life the family was very different from traditional Japanese households. My second family was the complete opposite and both the father and mother worked very late hours of the night and we'd often end up getting take-away meals because of this. That said, the house-wife image was still there, because as soon as dinner was finished, the father and brother would sit down and watch TV, while the mother and sister would clean up dishes and put them away.
The last family was the most equal, I'd say. Which was weird, because the parents in that family were the oldest ones (The first family had a very young mother and a father who was about 20 years her senior). They both worked from home, and shared an equal role in their business; the father helped with cooking and washing and whatnot, as well as all the children.
Japan is currently facing a quickly aging population, a huge problem for society there, although people don't look at it with as much seriousness as they probably should. Part of the reason for this is that women are wanting to continue their careers and oftentimes sacrifice making a family for this career. In the past, as soon as a woman got pregnant, she would step down from her job and live the life of a housewife. It was literally career suicide.
Working times in Japan are a lot different to the Western world. They take it all very seriously, and it isn't out of the ordinary for career women and men to be returning home at the late hours of the night, from anywhere between 10pm-1am in the morning. Because of this commitment to work ethic, it is often the case that women have to choose between raising a family, and continuing their career. Things are rapidly changing, whether it be for better or worse.
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While possibly not really related, I remember reading that if a girl is raped in Japan, a social stigma is attached to her as if it were her fault that she got raped in the first place. Which rather shows a particularly sexist way of thinking even when a woman is the victim of something.
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I don't feel as if there's all that much truth to this anymore. Although, keeping in mind, none of my Japanese friends have ever been raped before. This said, I had female friends who had been molestered by much older men either on trains or buses on the way to or from school. It's a disgusting part of Japanese culture that is often swept under the rug, but pops up in all forms of sexual media in Japan.
Whether it be pornography that glorifies gang rape, or taking advantage of girls in school uniforms, to manga comics that clearly depict girls who are underage. Japanese men need to have more power than the female in a relationship, and this is something that is transferred over to the roles in sex. There are very few Japanese sex videos that depict the female in a role of more power than the man. In fact, it often climaxes with the man unloading the fruits of his labour onto the girl's face; possibly one of the most degrading acts imaginable.