Resumen de Japanese Girls and Women

Para quién es

This book suits readers who love social history, travel writing and women's stories, and anyone curious about everyday life in nineteenth-century Japan, told by a warm, opinionated guide.

De qué trata este libro

What does it take to see inside a Japanese home? In the 1880s, an American teacher named Alice Mabel Bacon found the answer in friendship. She lived in Tokyo, taught at the school for noble daughters, and spent years talking with Japanese women who treated her almost as family.

Out of those talks came Japanese Girls and Women, first published in 1891 and revised in 1902. Bacon saw that books on Japan passed over half the population, so she follows a woman from cradle to old age, then moves to court ladies, samurai wives, peasants and city dwellers. You get a close, warm record of a society in great change, from doll festivals to sharp arguments about divorce and schooling.

Questions about Japanese Girls and Women

What is Japanese Girls and Women about?

It describes the lives of women in Meiji-era Japan, following them through childhood, schooling, marriage, motherhood and old age. It also visits the imperial court, samurai households, farms, cities and servants' quarters, with many scenes drawn from the author's friendships.

Who was Alice Mabel Bacon?

Bacon was an American educator who taught in Tokyo in the 1880s and later wrote about what she learned. Her close friendships with Japanese women, especially Umé Tsuda and Stematz, gave her access to family life that most foreigners never saw.

What is the main message of the book?

Bacon argues that Japanese women are devoted, capable and brave, but their dependence under law and custom limits them. She believes fairer laws, better education, new kinds of work and changed public opinion can raise their position.

Is Japanese Girls and Women easy to read?

Its chapters follow a clear path from birth to old age, and they are full of short anecdotes, festival scenes and portraits of real people. Bacon writes in a warm, conversational voice that makes each topic easy to follow.