Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Pages: 232
•
Trim: 6¼ x 9¼
978-0-7425-5463-4 • Hardback • December 2007 • $124.00 • (£95.00)
978-0-7425-5464-1 • Paperback • December 2007 • $45.00 • (£35.00)
Masako Itoh is a Japanese feminist cultural critic and community activist long associated with the Kunitachi Public Community Center in Tokyo. Nobuko Adachi is assistant professor of anthropology at Illinois State University. James Stanlaw is professor of anthropology at Illinois State University.
Chapter 1: Marriage and Tradition
Chapter 2: Men
Chapter 3: Ourselves
Chapter 4: Other Women
Chapter 5: Families, Parents, and Parents-in-Law
Chapter 6: Life and Society
Chapter 7: Women's Social Roles and Our Behavior in Men's Society
Chapter 8: Social Attitudes toward Women
Chapter 9: How We Are Seen
Chapter 10: What I Want to Be
Chapter 11: How Society Should Be
Chapter 12: Married Life
Chapter 13: Social Issues
Chapter 14: Nature and Beauty
This book is a welcome addition to the growing collection of studies of Japanese women. By relying on detailed presentations of real women in their everyday context introduced in real-life situations, Itoh challenges readers never to generalize about any typical individual fulfilling a social role. . . . Recommended.
— Choice Reviews
This book offers one of the finest ways to understand the sociological and anthropological conditions of current Japan. The Japanese women's voices are spicy and sharp, while the translation reads as pleasantly and persuasively as the original. This provocative work will interest general readers as well as students in sociology, anthropology, and cultural studies courses.
— Seiichi Makino, Princeton University
Thanks to Adachi and Stanlaw, readers of English can now relish Masako Itoh's popular nonfiction book. Itoh's vignettes and essays explore the politics of gender in contemporary Japan through an illuminating blend of her own thinking intertwined with the words and expressions of everyday women. This delightful translation with its expert cultural commentary skillfully captures the opinionated, outspoken, and provocative rants and worries of Itoh and her companions.
— Laura Miller, Loyola University Chicago
The only book available that portrays the everyday voices of Japanese housewives
Describes the role of women in contemporary Japan
Includes Japanese cultural explanations and notes before each essay
Offers sample questions and suggested discussions for classroom work
Fills the need for a concise book on language and women's issues in Japan
Reveals the ways Japanese culture and language work from a woman's perspective