Catalogue

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This is volume four of a six-volume work on the history of contemporary Japan. Written by leading academicians, 16 essays provide a skeleton summary of where woman have been since 1945 and where they may be heading on the eve of the 21st century. Topics include women's roles during World War II, a pioneer heroine's quest to free women from traditional bonds, the continuities and discontinuities in understanding the current situation for women, general problems facing women in the society and in the labor market, female suicides, the concept of "gender bending" in Japan, the continuing phenomenon of "good wives and wise mothers", the "comfort women" controversy of World War II, dimensions of family life, and sexual issues.

The best scholarship on the development of contemporary Japan This collection presents well over 100 scholarly articles on modern Japanese society, written by leading scholars in the field. These selections have been drawn from the most distinguished scholarly journals as well as from journals that are less well known among specialists; and the articles represent the best and most important scholarship on their particular topic. An understanding of the present through the lens of the past The field of modern Japan studies has grown steadily as Westerners have recognized the importance of Japan as a lading world economic force and an emerging regional power. The post-1945 economic success of the Japanese has, however, been achieved in the context of that nation's history, social structure, educational enterprise and political environment. It is impossible to understand the postwar economic miracle without an appreciation of these elements. Japan's economic emergence has broughtabout and in some cases, exacerbated already existing tensions, and these tensions have, in turn, had a significant impact on Japanese economic life. The series is designed to give readers a basic understanding of modern Japan-its institutions and its people-as we stand on the threshold of a new century, often referred to as "the Pacific Century".