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otakumom

otakumom

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Origin in Death
J.D. Robb
Making Sense of Japanese: What the Textbooks Don't Tell You
Jay Rubin

Kickboxing Geishas: How Modern Japanese Women Are Changing Their Nation

Kickboxing Geishas: How Modern Japanese Women Are Changing Their Nation - Veronica Chambers This is the first book I read that tackled the lives and struggles of the contemporary Japanese woman in society. One of the aspects I liked best was that we also see this in relation to Western sensibilities. I really wanted to hear the observations and impressions from a woman with similar sensibilities and concerns that I would approach this topic as well.

It was very enlightening as we are exposed to vignettes and instances of different types of women and how they have either tried to balance traditional values with their own ambitions or completely reject traditional values. I'm not sure how prevalent these examples actually are in Japanese society since most of this is anecdotal research rather than empirical.

She covers a wide variety issues. My only question is where these observations and assertions fit in Japanese society as a whole today. The pitfall of her inquiry is that it is a very narrow scope based on her observations and the people she was able to access. These are a series of instances but no empirical data on the whole. In spite of those pitfalls, I found this book to be very enlightening all the same.