The Japanese Woman: Traditional Image and Changing Reality [Paperback]

Sumiko Iwao (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1994

In a contemporary study of women in Japan, Sumiko Iwao (psychology, Keio U., Tokyo) shows that these women are not the submissive females typically portrayed, but rather that they hold positions equal to and sometimes more powerful than those of men. Annotation copyright Book News, Inc. Portland, O

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Japanese women, according to Iwao, a professor of psychology in Tokyo, "often feel that living according to principle forces human beings into unnatural behavior" and is "confining as far as the attainment of happiness for the individual is concerned." She compares this attitude favorably with that of American women's "persistent" demands for an ideal of equality. Iwao argues that "contrary to the image of subjugation outsiders seem to associate with Japanese women," they have more freedom than Japanese men, who are mere worker bees; they have more time for friends, family and personal interests, and control the purse strings. While there is widespread dissatisfaction with exhausted and uncompanionable husbands, one in six women compensates, guiltlessly, with a lover. Sixty-five percent of Japanese women with school-age children have jobs, and although they "believe in equal pay for equal work, equal opportunity and so on," they are generally not expected to contribute to household expenses. The study is densely packed with invaluable data about generational changes in Japanese women's lives, and is intriguing for its insights into the differences between Japanese and American value systems, but it is sometimes unduly provocative in tone and ambiguous in its assessments of Japanese women's recent progress.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Written by a female psychology professor in Tokyo, this work aims to describe the modern Japanese woman. She is a mixture of tradition and "new attitude." She is often viewed as passive, demure, and self-sacrificing--but at the same time she can be formidable, ruling her family with unspoken power. Iwao recalls her own grandmother, who could "make two fine grown men cringe before her." The book explores many topics about womanhood--myths, motherhood, marriage, financial power, divorce, sex, politics, the workplace. American and Japanese women have very different expectations about marriage: in one survey, more Japanese than U.S. women rated having children as very important. While Japanese women are still expected to serve the tea in the workplace, more of them are having extramarital affairs. This is a revealing look at the changing roles of women in today's Japan. Recommended for all women's studies and international studies collections.
- Lisa K. Miller, American Graduate Sch. of International Management Lib., Glendale, Ariz.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Harvard University Press (March 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0674471962
• ISBN-13: 978-0674471962
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,176,926 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Japanese Woman should be required reading, March 11, 2009

By 

S. Smith "Steve Smith" (santa rosa, ca USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Japanese Woman (Paperback)

Any outsider trying to understand the Japanese Culture will find this book indispensable. Ms Iwao gives insight into the changing roles of Japanese Women starting with the period immediately after the war and continuing into the present. She gives stories of the women and statistics to back these stories up. She contrasts the Japanese Woman with her western counterpart. And this isn't a dry narrative -- it's written in such a way that it's hard to put down.