Housewives of Japan: An Ethnography of Real Lives and Consumerized Domesticity

291 Pages·2012·6.179 MB·English

by  Ofra Goldstein-Gidoni (auth.)

Housewives of Japan
Previous Publications
Books
Ofra Goldstein-Gidoni. 1997. Packaged Japaneseness:
Weddings, Business And Brides .
Housewives of Japan
An Ethnography of Real Lives and
Consumerized Domesticity
Ofra Goldstein-Gidoni
HOUSEWIVES OF JAPAN
Copyright © Ofra Goldstein-Gidoni, 2012.
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2012 978-0-230-34031-2
All rights reserved.
First published in 2012 by
PALGRAVE MACMILLAN®
in the United States— a division of St. Martin’s Press LLC,
175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010.
Where this book is distributed in the UK, Europe and the rest of the world,
this is by Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited,
registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills,
Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS.
Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies
and has companies and representatives throughout the world.
Palgrave® and Macmillan® are registered trademarks in the United States,
the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries.
ISBN 978-1-349-34288-4 ISBN 978-1-137-07962-6 (eBook)
DOI 10.1057/9781137079626
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available from the
Library of Congress.
A catalogue record of the book is available from the British Library.
Design by Newgen Imaging Systems (P) Ltd., Chennai, India.
First edition: June 2012
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
For Boaz, Tomer, and Noam
and
To Mariko
for our joint journey

Contents
List of Illustrations ix
Note on Japanese Names and Terms xi
Acknowledgments xiii
Preface xvii
Part I A Collaborative Quest for Understanding
“Sengyō Shufu”
Intertext I 3
Chapter 1 Entering the Field: Joining Mariko’s
Introspective Journey 5
Intertext II 33
Chapter 2 The Postwar “Professional Housewife” and
the Japanese State 37
Part II The Women of Royal Heights
Intertext III 55
Chapter 3 On “Naturally” Becoming Housewives 57
Intertext IV 81
Chapter 4 “Guarding the House”: Men as Breadwinners,
Women as Housewives 83
Intertext V 113
Chapter 5 A New Housewife Is Born? Discourses of Class and
Change in Royal Heights 117
viii ● Contents
Part III Housewives as Women in Postbubble Japan
Intertext VI 145
Chapter 6 The New Happy Housewife of Postbubble Japan 147
Intertext VII 187
C hapter 7 W rapping Up: Housewives as the “Winners?” 1 89
Intertext VIII 213
Afterword 217
Notes 225
Bibliography 247
Index 263
Illustrations
1.1 “Royal Heights,” a neighborhood in Osaka 19
1.2 Mariko and Ofra in Kyoto, 2011 3 1
5.1 A lively tea party: women gazing through and
discussing women’s magazines 133
6 .1 Kurihara Harumi, the great charisma housewife 148
6 .2 “Everyday Life Is Enjoyable” 155
6 .3 “A Sudden Rain Shower.” Fashionable mom and
daughter picking up papa at the train station 166
6 .4 Stepping up from the cool OL style to a graceful and
refined “madam style” 1 67
6.5 “ We Need Romantic!” “Romance Is Necessary,
Especially When You’re in Your 40s” 1 69
6.6 “ Means to Thoroughly Enjoy Being a Woman”:
A Ginza date with the husband 1 71
6.7 “Don’t I look nice? As I’m an adult now, won’t you
buy me something with diamonds this time?” 1 72
6.8 Story ’s new idol, Kiyohara Aki, who expresses her love for
“expensive, cheap, cute, and sexy things” 1 73
6.9 “We Announce a Plan for ‘In Five Years I Will
Still Love Myself’” 1 74
7.1 “We Are Hot Mama” 1 91
7.2 The konkatsu (marriage hunting) bra set 2 01
7.3 The konkatsu (marriage hunting) proposal cake 2 02