The Secrets of Mariko: A Year in the Life of a Japanese Woman and Her Family [Hardcover]

Elisabeth Bumiller (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 17, 1995

With Bumiller's intimate, beautifully written portrait of a middle-class Tokyo housewife, readers finally penetrate the mysteries of the Japanese people to see how they differ from us, and how they are alike.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Author of a kaleidoscopic portrayal of women in India (May You Be the Mother of One Hundred Sons), Bumiller here chronicles the complex and sometimes surprising life of a seemingly typical middle-aged Japanese woman in what "seems to be a nation of maddening conformists." The book is consistently interesting, even if at times the author can't bridge a cultural gap (she used an interpreter). Mariko initially seems comfortable with her life?distant from her hard-drinking husband, devoted to her three children, gaining relief from part-time jobs, playing traditional music and dabbling in karaoke. Along the way, Bumiller digresses to discuss Japanese education practices, the mobsters known as yakuza, even Japanese TV. And her diligence pays off, as Mariko's salaryman husband, Takeshi, spills his sorrows, and Mariko herself divulges her own struggles with the life she has fashioned. The author concludes that Takeshi is "trapped by his society," whereas Mariko and other married Japanese women, "for all their secondary status, are ultimately more free than the men." Author tour.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

While interviewing in Japan for the Washington Post in 1991-92, journalist Bumiller chronicled through an interpreter a year in the life of Mariko, "an ordinary Japanese woman," and her family and neighborhood. Her struggle to balance her own needs with those of her family is a "reminder that certain universalities transcend borders." Like the author's May You Be the Mother of a Hundred Sons (LJ 5/1/90), about Indian women, Mariko is best suited to young adults despite its occaisional cliches. In 1910 Makiko Nakano (1890-1978) was a newlywed daughter-in-law with responsibilities in a busy family community that functioned both as a residence and as a store. Likable, assiduous Makiko detailed changes taking place in her early-20th-century Japanese town and domestic life in her diary. Nakano Takashi's 1981 publication of his mother's record is in Japanese-language collections of many university libraries. Translator Smith (Japanese, Cornell Univ., ret.), who is associated with the creation of The Diary of a Japanese Innkeeper's Daughter (Cornell Univ. East Asia Program, 1984), provides all the relevant explication, notes, maps, and illustrations a researcher of modern Japanese social history could desire. Both works offer insights into the daily lives of 20th-century Japanese women and help dispel the mythology; both are recommended for public library and women's studies collections, though Makiko's Diary is essential for academic and scholarly libraries.?Helen Rippier Wheeler, formerly with SLIS, Univ. of California-Berkeley,
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 338 pages
• Publisher: Crown; 1st edition (October 17, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 081292603X
• ISBN-13: 978-0812926033
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 7.2 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #831,038 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A great look at the grass-roots..., November 4, 2003

By 

Michael Valdivielso (Alexandria, VA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Secrets of Mariko: A Year in the Life of a Japanese Woman and Her Family (Paperback)

The best books about other cultures are those that start at the bottom and work up. In this book Elisabeth Bumiller interviews a Japanese women and her family, friends and others linked to the family to give a very detailed picture of a Japanese family from 1991 to 1992. We get to join festivals, sit in at PTA meetings, visit mobsters, learn about local politics, find out what family issues the Japanese have and even the family's view on America and international events.
NOTE: The author has very strong views of her own and will state them, but don't let that get in the way of the rest of the book. She digs up a LOT of information and makes it clear that while the Japanese might have different ways of thinking or doing stuff, they do have some of the same goals, dreams and fears.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Insightful look at Japanese family life and interaction, August 4, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: The Secrets of Mariko: A Year in the Life of a Japanese Woman and Her Family (Paperback)

This book takes a personal look at Mariko, who is a wife, mother, and daughter in modern-day Japan. This book cuts through typical Japan-bashing rhetoric, and provides an intimate look at Japanese family life during a time when familial roles are being challenged and re-defined almost daily. This behind-the-scenes view of family life is one that few non-Japanese get to experience. I particularly enjoyed how the book illustrated the rhythm of Mariko's daily life over a year's time. The book shows how Japanese women have much more freedom of expression and independence than men which is quite contrary to what most westerners believe.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Window into another lifestyle, December 13, 2002

By 

Erika Mitchell (E. Calais, VT USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Secrets of Mariko: A Year in the Life of a Japanese Woman and Her Family (Paperback)

This book provides glimpses of the lifestyle of an average Japanese housewife. Written by a journalist rather than an anthropologist, the author explores the life and important events of Mariko over the course of a year. Through the author's interviews, we learn the history of the family and the views of Mariko, her husband and children on such topics as family life, parenting, and work. As a journalist, Bumiller is quite interested in Japanese opinions and attitudes about current events, so Mariko and her family explain some of their complex feelings about the U.S. We visit the children's schools and work places, and see where they go on vacation. Along the way, Bumiller also interviews prominent Japanese who are in some way connected to aspects of Mariko's life, such as politicians, the head of the mob, and a talk show host. By the end of the book, readers are familiar with many details of average Japanese family life, something that would be unattainable unless one were to either grow up in Japan or live for long enough in Japan to develop close friendships with locals. But even Bumiller points out that she has only scratched the surface, and there is much about Mariko's life that we can never comprehend just by reading a book.