11 h 13 minAudiobook11 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · 275 pagesHardcover · 6 × 9 in · 275 pagesAbout this book
Inside the Japanese home, a girl's earliest lessons reveal a society caught between old customs and new ideas.
In Japanese Girls and Women, Alice Mabel Bacon follows women's lives through homes, schools, marriage and work in Meiji-era Japan. An American teacher in Tokyo, she draws on what she observes within Japanese households. Her childhood connection with Sutematsu Yamakawa, later Princess Oyama, opens doors that most foreigners cannot enter.
Bacon explores the gentleness shown to young children, the obedience expected of girls and the duties placed on wives. She also looks beyond wealthy families to servants, farm women and city workers. As education and customs change, her account asks how much room women have to shape their lives—and reveals the limits of her own Victorian American outlook.
What you’ll discover
- Behind household doors See how family structure shapes women's daily duties, relationships and standing within the home.
- The lessons of girlhood Follow the path from gentle early care to expectations of obedience and changing opportunities for schooling.
- Marriage beyond the couple Explore arranged matches and the household responsibilities that await a wife.
- Women across social classes Meet servants, farm women and city workers whose experiences broaden this portrait of Japanese life.
- An observer worth questioning Read Bacon's affectionate observations while noticing where her own cultural assumptions shape what she sees.
Is it for you?
This book suits readers curious about Meiji Japan, women's history, or how outsiders described foreign lands. It also rewards anyone who likes firsthand domestic detail. Those wanting a modern, neutral account may find its Victorian American viewpoint dated.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- The home shapes every woman's life
- Girlhood is a school of obedience
- Education for girls was thin but changing
- Marriage was a family arrangement
- The wife serves the household
- Servants, work and the lives of poorer women
- Old customs meet new ideas
- An American eye with its own limits
- Old age, widowhood and what endures
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- Large print paperback
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print hardcover
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Japanese Girls and Women
by Alice Mabel Bacon· 1891
Japanese women’s lives reveal tensions between tradition and social change.
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Language: Deutsch
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1 of 9
The home shapes every woman's life
Bacon looks closely at the Japanese house and family, because she believes a woman's role cannot be understood apart from them. The household was not built around a married couple alone. It was a line of descent, with ancestors, parents, children and often several relatives under one roof. The family name and its continuity mattered more than the happiness of any single person.
She describes the house itself in plain terms. Rooms are light and open, with sliding paper screens, mats on the floor, and very little furniture. She notes the cleanliness, the removal of shoes at the door, and the calm order of a well-kept home. To her American eyes, this is a different way to live, and she often finds it attractive.
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The author
Alice Mabel Bacon
1858–1918 · American writer and educator
Alice Mabel Bacon was an American writer and educator. She was born in New Haven, Connecticut, in 1858 and died there in 1918. She lived and taught in Japan and advised its government during the Meiji period. Her books include Japanese Girls and Women (1891) and A Japanese Interior (1893).
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What is Japanese Girls and Women about?
It describes the lives of Japanese women in the Meiji era, from childhood and schooling to marriage, household duties and old age. Bacon writes from her own stay in Japan and from friendships with Japanese families.
Who was Alice Mabel Bacon?
She was an American teacher from Connecticut who taught in Tokyo at the Peeresses' School in 1888 and 1889. She wrote several books about Japan and died in 1918.
When was Japanese Girls and Women published?
It first appeared in 1891, soon after Bacon's first stay in Japan. It records the Meiji period, when Japan was changing its schools, laws and customs under strong Western influence.
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