Rebecca Lopez
Period 4
International Interview Project:
Women’s Issues in Japan
What are the expectations for women in Japan? When I first asked myself that question, I believed they had really impossible standards nobody could really live up to. But after interviewing Matsui Timoko, a young Japanese student in the United States, Japanese women don’t really have a hard time living up to what they are expected to be because there aren’t that many expectations in the first place. Women have many obvious roles in society: mothers, daughters, students, sisters, office-workers, wives, girlfriends, and so on. What do we do with our lives, how do we decide? It’s a tough choice that every woman in America has to face. And we actually get the luxury of deciding that for ourselves, unlike other countries. The thing that really shocked me was the fact that Japan also has that luxury, but comparing it to other countries in Asia, not many others get to have that freedom. Japan is very similar to America, but with little sprinkles of contrast.
What Matsui Timoko chose, was to be a full time student in America, even after moving from Japan. I asked her if a lot of women end up going to a university and if she thought they were treated equal to males in the universities. ”Yeah, They are but, when I go to high school males and females are equal. But when I got to college it was different because when I was in my English literature class, there were so many female students and then you look at engineering, there were only male students and I was wondering, when did this happen?!” She explained to us getting into a university in Japan is really easy and women don’t have problems getting in or into their classes. But the only big thing is that there are certain career paths women choose and males choose. And they are separated that way. Men would usually go after the top jobs and women would want to go after the “girly jobs” such as nursing and being a teacher. Here, we like to challenge ourselves and go after “manlier” jobs; we fight for equality everyday in the workplace. We don’t want to settle for teaching or nursing unless that’s really what we are interested in.
I think the biggest “girly job” there is, is being a mother and raising a family and that’s what many women do instead of going to school, or they even decide to do it afterwards. I asked Matsui what she thought the expectations were for females as mothers. She replied, “I think they have to educate the kids…I think here is more like friends. But in Japan they have to be like parents and they have to tell them what to do and what not to do as women.” Matsui compared mothers in Japan and in America; she feels that mothers here, try to be their son’s and daughter’s friends and not the responsible authority figure parents should be. While in Japan, mothers are stern and do their jobs of raising them to be good. I would have to disagree with that. There may be relationships here where the mother and daughter become good friends, but that isn’t true for every family. Also, if there was a mother-daughter bond, there are many mothers that still do their jobs but they are not as strict. I think Matsui has the impression that only because mothers are friendlier, they can’t be good mothers; maybe most of Japan has that impression. And I’m almost certain men aren’t preoccupied about mothers, even when all of them have one.
The opposite sex is a big deal to women, whether they know it or not. They’re the ones that make us dress up and look pretty. They’re also the ones that can give us confidence and self-esteem by giving us little compliments. “I think most Japanese girls like to be called ‘cute’, not beautiful, gorgeous, or sexy…everybody likes to be helped by guys, you tell them, ‘Oh! Help me with my bag’, but the Americans are like, ‘Oh, I can do it!’” Japanese women like to give the impression to guys that they are small and weak, so guys can call them cute and not other things that American women love to be called. They want to have a man protect them and be their muscle and she compares it to women here in America because there is a huge contrast; American women like to be independent and we always want to prove to the men that we can be equal or even more than them. Of course, that’s not true for all women, but there is a huge chunk; we want to be considered strong not be treated condescendingly, especially by our partners.
There are many stereotypes about women as girlfriends, spouses, and wives; they have to pick up after the man because he’s the one who brings home the bacon. “Girls like to cook for them, they like to do stuff for their boyfriend…One time when I was going out with a guy from England, I cooked for him, he says, ‘What are you doing?’ But that’s how I show my love…I think guys would rather take care of the girl.” When Matsui was going out with a guy from another race, England, he wasn’t used to her taking care of him. She would cook for him and iron his clothes, but he was confused at why she was doing it. He didn’t realize that that is her custom from Japan. Matsui is use to serving the guys, and now-a-day; women don’t want to be put in the category of being stay-at-home moms and slaving over those hot stoves everyday.
Man also see women as objects and use them for certain “needs” they have, and the way women dress can say a lot about them as a person, but sometimes a woman can dress a certain way, but be total opposite of what people think she is. “They show arms and legs but they don’t show boobs…” I asked her what would happen if women did show boobs in Japan, she replied, “People look at them and say ‘Hey, look, this girl is showing boobs, its wrong!’” Japanese women don’t show that much skin, unless they want to be noticed for the wrong reasons, they show their legs and arms but they never show cleavage because it’s just considered wrong. Here, we always have the freedom to wear whatever we want, and we will always have perverts lurking around trying to look for some action, we can’t really stop them. I think America is more forgiving for showing more skin than Japan because it’s everywhere we go.
Something that America isn’t so forgiving about is the problem of girl’s trafficking has been a problem around the world, in many parts, it’s illegal. Matsui assured me that prostitution isn’t a big issue over there, but she has had events that were related to this topic. “ I was like 19 and I was walking down the street in a big city, kind of like New York, and a 30-year-old man approached me and he said, ‘How much?’ I said, ‘I don’t know, umm…how about $300’ and he said, ‘If you have sex with me I can give you the money’.” The thirty-year-old man thought she was a prostitute, she found it funny because she had no idea what he was talking about. We all had a good laugh about that. But at the same time, it made me think what could’ve happened to her, because if a man did that to women here, we wouldn’t find that very amusing, the guy would probably end up with a law suit! But of course you’d have to be really strong to do that, and we are all different in some way, right?
Japan and American women differ in many areas; the way we walk and talk, act around the opposite sex, and even our views towards education. But women in general have many characteristics that we all share; our physicality, our hunger to not be judged as females, and the freedom to choose what you desire in life. Matsui Timoko, told me many things I would of never guess about Japan. I’m glad she did because before, I felt as if I had a small Closter phobic space of information about women. But now, I feel as if my view toward women in society has expanded to a panoramic view of the world.
To hear the Raw Interview Data, visit this URL:
The Interview
Rubric for this assignment:
ISA Globe
