I'm Married to Your Company!: Everyday Voices of Japanese Women

(Paperback)

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Description

This approachable and absorbing book offers a unique window into Japanese culture and language. Highlighting the overlooked world of the "silent majority," the housewives and mothers who are the mainstay of Japanese society, this work tells the stories of ordinary women in their own voices. An annotated translation of a Japanese bestseller, the volume explores the daily communication of Japanese women and what their words tell us about their relationships and lives in a globalized, post-industrial, yet still often male-dominated Japan.

Readers will find that many issues explored here are universal to women everywhere, while others are specific to Japan. With added cultural context and commentary, the book offers a fresh understanding of Japanese society, even for those who have had little exposure to Japan. Students in diverse fields, ranging from anthropology to women's studies and from communications to Asian studies, will find this an insightful and provocative work.

Reviews

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 womens 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 Itohs popular nonfiction book. Itohs 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

Author Bio

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.