Gender in Japan

Is this a photo of an ideal Japanese woman? Ready and waiting to serve? Traditionally, women were were taught to be reserved, subservient and obey the dominant male in their life (either the father or the husband.)



Some would say that this makes the Japanese culture chauvinistic. I disagree. Until this day, women have played a very large and important part of Japanese history and culture. For example, it was a woman, Murasaki Shikibu, who wrote the world's first novel entitled, "The Tale of Genji". This year is actually the 1000th year anniversary of this infamous book. This is a memorial dedicated to her that is located in Uji.


When I speaking with my Okaasan about Murasaki Shikibu, she told me that "Japanese women are strong." She told me that many Japanese women want to have a career and do not get married until mid to late 20's. They are very driven; Osaka even boasted Fusai Ohta, the first governor of Japan. As you can see, the woman's gender role is very important in Japan.