What are Japanese women expected to do?

Answer 1

Although legally owing to pressure from other industrialized countries to enact laws giving women equal rights, and in Japan there are in fact more laws guaranteeing rights for women, cultural patterns, nevertheless persist. For example, in Japan it is illegal to have sex with a girl under the age of 18, and it is also illegal for anyone under 21 to drink, but, owing to the culture, nobody cares. Attitudes towards women, are similar; even though legally, believe it or not in the law books Japanese women in fact have more protection than even American women, in practice, most are still expected to be housewives. If you want to have it narrowed down to a list;

1) Take care of the family's finances; you will never hear of a Japanese woman starting a fashion trend because, whereas women all over the world are spend thrifts who waste money on dresses, in Japan, that pattern of behavior is often strongly attacked. The "good Japanese housewife" is frugal to the point of starvation if necessary. Most Japanese housewives, have near dictatorial control over the family finances; I think they will deposit 80% of their husband's earnings into savings, and the other 20% they will spend on necessities. As to where the kids get their Video Games? Well, working at McDonald's, or in an office somewhere once out of High School; most Japanese parents only rarely buy their children toys, most Japanese teens buy their own things because, don't expect either mom, or dad, to buy you ANYTHING, if you grow up in a traditional Japanese household. Dad, because good luck reaching him, odds are he's probably not even home, and mom? Ha! You'll have better luck getting a Samurai to say "I give up," than getting a traditional Japanese housewife to buy her kid a toy. No joke; ultra traditional Japanese households, are frugal almost to a fault, if you want something, you need to work for it yourself. While Japanese parents will pay for their children's necessities, their college tuition, their books, etc, very few will buy them luxuries. Believe it or not, this tendency to only rarely buy children toys, has created a powerful youth centered industry in Japan, that is stuff marketed towards teenagers. The reason you see so many teenagers under 18 working in so many places is because, well they want their toys (anise's, video games, etc), because their parents won't buy it for them. Only a minority of Japanese children are spoiled brats; believe it or not part of Japan's prosperity, is rooted in that youth culture.

2) She's supposed to be constantly on top of her kids, making sure, they do their schoolwork; if a kid gets bad grades, the entire neighborhood will know about it. Also the higher the income of the neighborhood, the more vicious the gossip. Chinese stories about Japanese cruelty are not always exaggerated; while only a minority, some Japanese can be extremely vicious. For getting bad grades in school a family can be maliciously ostracized; if a kid does poorly in school, and for that matter in life, the whole family is looked down upon, not just the kid. Because of that pressure like I said, the truth is most Japanese wives run their house like a dictator. The culture says the wife obeys, but the truth is, in most Japanese households its the woman who rules the household.

3) She is supposed to stoically endure her husband's numerous infidelities, and have a bath prepared if he comes home drunk.

4) If she is just a girl and not a grown woman yet, she is supposed to model herself after her mother without question, and hold a job until she finds a husband. Part of the reason most Japanese companies pay women so little in terms of salary, is because of the unwritten Japanese cultural rule that the moment a woman marries, she will quit her job and be a housewife full time. Many Japanese women, do precisely that, although increasingly some are rebelling, and becoming full time career women. Some Japanese women are so obsessed with their career, believe it or not there are women in their mid 20's in Japan who have never had sex. That is how obsessed they are, and how much they work, additionally, that crowd of women is often traumatized; they watched mom put up with dad cheating on her and all that, so they swear they will not be housewives.

Much like Chinese society, in Japanese culture boys are generally valued more than girls. The messed up thing is, even MOTHERS will behave this way. In fact, a Chinese woman said it best one time, and this has become an infamous quote for women's rights activists in East Asia, the quote went like this; raising a daughter is like raising a pig; you feed her and feed her, only to give her away. A son on the other hand, will be an earner and take care of you when you're old.

Its pretty bad, however, life for women in Japan, is not as bad as it is for women in other parts of east Asia. Japanese women's main headache is Japanese machismo; many of the men, are Samurai wannabes, so they act all tough like. In the Japanese movie "VS," the main protagonist accidentally fell, one of his teeth was broken, and I think he had dirt particles lodged on a tooth's bare nerve, so you can imagine how painful that was. Nevertheless he said "keep filming." Why did he do that? He was being "tough;" for him to go to the dentist would have been "wimpy."

Like I said; a lot of Japanese men, are macho, that is the number one complaint of the women in Japan.

I understand how admirable it is when a man has a strong work ethic, but there is a fine line between self sacrifice; if you need to go to the dentist then go to the dentist. In that department Japanese women hold every right to complain. I agree that men should be tough, I mean, when something needs to get done sorry, you need to "man up" as they say, being a sissy and crying when there is a tough job to be done is not cool if you're a dude, but some Japanese machismo that is unnecessary.