The Mountain Is Moving: Japanese Women's Lives

By Patricia A. Morley

Are Japanese women happy with their roles as wives and mothers, content to leave the stress of fourteen-hour days in offices and commuter trains to men? Or are they frustrated by the limitations of this traditional arrangement? Why are Japanese women actively discouraged from pursuing careers when they have one of the highest levels of education in the world? Will a new generation of women be able gain equality at home and at work? With elegant prose, noted biographer and critic Patricia Morley tackles these questions as she explores the daily lives and the hopes and aspirations of dynamic Japanese women.
Based on hundreds of interviews, The Mountain is Moving looks at the many facets of women's lives, including education, marriage and child rearing, the workplace, eldercare, the political arena, and volunteerism. The interviews are complemented by readings of a diverse and compelling range of stories and novels by and about Japanese women.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0814756263
• ISBN13: 9780814756263
• Release Date: September 1999
• Publisher: New York University Press
• Length: 240 Pages
• Weight: 1.10 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.3" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

A great treatment of issues facing Japanese women today

In this highly enjoyable and informative work, Patricia Morley examines the many roles Japanese women play in their society. Through her hundreds of interviews and her analyses of literary works written by and about Japanese women, Morley explores important themes like education, marriage and childrearing, employment, caring for the elderly, politics, volunteerism, and women writers. I found Chapters 7 and 8 to be especially interesting. Throughout the work, she emphasizes that while Japanese women are changing rapidly, their society still holds on to traditions that have oppressed them. What is also great about Morley is that while she focuses on women, she also recognizes that to study women you often need to explore how society treats men as well.