Dorothy Robins-Mowry - The Hidden Sun: Women of Modern Japan

THE HIDDEN SUN

Japan: Profile of a Postindustrial Power, Ardath W. Burks

japan's Economy: Coping with Change in the International Environment, edited by Daniel P. Okimoto

Women of Rural Asia, Robert Orr Whyte and Pauline Whyte

A Theory of Japanese Democracy, Nobutaka Ike

Women and Revolution in Iran, Guity Nashat

Women and Work in Africa, edited by Edna Bay

International Law and the Status of Women, Natalie Kaufman Hevener

Women in Rural Development, Donald R. Mickelwait, Mary Ann Riegelman, and Charles F. Sweet

Introduction to Library Research for Women's Studies, Susan F. Searing

Women and Technological Change in Developing Countries, edited by Roslyn Dauber and Melinda L. Cain

Scientific-Technological Change and the Role of Women in Development, edited by Pamela M. D'Onofrio-Flores and Sheila M. Pfafflin

The Underside of History: A View of Women Through Time, Elise Boulding

Women and Minorities in Science: Strategies for Increasing Participation, edited by Sheila M. Humphreys

Working Women: A Study of Women in Paid Jobs, Ann Seidman

New Space for Women, edited by Gerda R. Wekerle, Rebecca Peterson, and David Morley

Available in hardcover and paperback.

The Hidden Sun: Women of Modern Japan

Dorothy Robins-Mowry

with a Foreword by Edwin O. Reischauer

Ever since Japan and the West discovered one another, Western observers have extolled the surface virtues of Japanese women but attended very little to what they are really like. In this new, balanced view of the role of Japanese women in their country's swiftly changing society, Dr. Robins-Mowry destroys the Western stereotype of the shy, perhaps slightly coquettish, doll-like figure and replaces it with a sober, realistic portrait of a woman whose attitudes and activities influence the policies and trends of modern Japan, both domestically and internationally. She analyzes as well the extensive and often unrecognized constraints tradition places on women's performance in Japan's highly industrialized democracy, revealing uniquely Japanese customs and interrelationships in all facets of the nation's culture and society. The result is a penetrating overview of the changes in the whole of Japanese society since World War IIchanges in which women have been catalysts, not bystanders.

The central part of the book examines the emergence of the postwar Japanese woman and her impact on her country's affairs, set against the background of critical historical and traditional factors. It is an intimate portrayal of the way the Japanese woman lives, the way she relates to her family and her work, how she sees herself within Japan's social and political contexts, and how she views the contribution she makes or can make to Japan's prosperity in general Dr. Robins-Mowry writes with insight, sympathy, and understanding derived from years of immersion in the complex social, economic, and political life of Japan and its women. She illustrates her narrative with the comments of scores of Japanese women from all walks of life, culled from hundreds of interviews. A broad spectrum is representedfrom well-known figures like Ichikawa Fusae and Ogata Sadako to leaders of rural cooperatives and environmental groups to women concentrating on raising their families.

A foreign service officer in the U.S. Information Agency (USIA) since 1963, Dr. Robins-Mowry has served overseas in Japan and Iran. From 1963 to 1971 she was chief of educational exchanges, cultural programs officer, and women's activities officer in the U.S. Information Service in Tokyo. She currently holds the position of policy officer in USIA for the Office of North Africa, the Middle East, and South Asia. In 1980 and 1981 Dr. Robins-Mowry was visiting professor of political science at the University of Maryland, teaching courses on women and politics.

In the beginning, woman was really the sun. She was a true person. Now woman is the moon. She depends on others for her life And reflects the light of others. She is sickly as a wan, blue-white moon.

We, the completely hidden sun, must now restore ourselves. "We must reveal the hidden sunour concealed genius." This is our constant cry and the inspiration of our unified purpose. The climax of this cry, this thirst, this desire will impel the genius in ourselves to shine forth.

Proclamation of Emancipation, Bluestocking Journal ( Seit ) , 1911

Dorothy Robins-Mowry

with a Foreword by
Edwin O. Reischauer

First published 1983 by Westview Press, Inc.

Published 2019 by Routledge
52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business

Copyright 1983 Taylor & Francis

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

Notice:
Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Robins-Mowry, Dorothy, 1921
The hidden sun.
Bibliography: p.
Includes index.
1. WomenJapanSocial conditions. I. Title.
HQ1762.R6 1982 305.4'0952 82-20230

ISBN 13: 978-0-367-29279-9 (hbk)

Very shortly after I went to Japan as the U.S. Ambassador in April 1961, my wife, Haru, and I discovered that there was a great demand on the part of Japanese women for meetings with her to discuss Japanese-American relations and, still more, the roles and life of women in the United States and Japan. Soon she found herself with a crushing load of work of this sort to add to her already heavy burdens as an ambassador's wife. It became clear that there was a very real need for a women's activities officer in the United States Information Service branch of the embassy, and we started a search for the right person. The wheels of government, however, move slowly, and it was not until October 1963 that Dr. Dorothy Robins-Mowry, who was simply Dr. Dorothy Robins at the time, arrived in Japan.

A more happy choice could not have been found. Dr. Robins-Mowry had already established herself in the fields of women's work and international relations, and during her eight years in Japan she became a thorough expert on women's affairs there. Through her enthusiastic enterprise, unflagging energy, and warm personality, she established deep and lasting contacts with the women leaders of Japan. She came to know their work and the problems of Japanese women as well as any foreigner ever has. She has continued her interest in Japan and her contacts with the women since her departure, devoting two further years to research on this book. The result is an extraordinarily thorough account, told largely through the activities and words of the Japanese women leaders themselves.