Foreword for Chinese Edition of “Woman-Haters: Misogyny in Japan”

Chizuko’s Blog No.82

February 9th, 2015

A Chinese translation (in the simplified Chinese characters) of my book “Woman-Haters” has been published. I have learned the Chinese title is 『厭女症』(Woman-Hater Syndrome). The following is what I wrote as the foreword for this Chinese edition. Also a Korean translation is now under way.

“Woman-Haters: Misogyny in Japan”

Written by Chizuko Ueno

(Kinokuniya Shoten, 6/10/2010)

Buy this book (jump to an Amazon page)

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I’m happy to find that they have decided to translate my book “Woman-Haters.” The subtitle of the book is “Misogyny in Japan,” and I believe we can apply this idea to many different societies --- “Misogyny in China,” “Misogyny in Korea,” or “Misogyny in Vietnam,” for example. In the first place, in writing this book, I was inspired by “Between Men: English Literature and Male Homosocial Desire,” a work by Eve Sedgwick, an American scholar in gender studies and English literature. So, obviously, we could also have “Misogyny in Britain” and “Misogyny in America.” Unfortunately, it is difficult to imagine a society without misogyny.

This book consists of a theory and its practice. The triad of homosociality, homophobia and misogyny --- a theoretical apparatus which Sedgwick provided us --- is very useful. Thanks to this theory, we can understand how different homosociality and homosexuality are and why homosexual males tend to be “feminized.” And above all, we learned from her theory that masculinity is defined as “not being (like) a woman,” which means putting women outside of men.

Because this theoretical apparatus is so sharp-cutting you are tempted to cut what you have using it. Like “Oh, yes, that group is homosocial,” or “Now I understand that womanizer is in fact a woman-hater.” And as in Japan today, so also in China, you will find there are so many situations you can easily explain with this theoretical apparatus. That is a shame, since it reflects the fact that men are not willing to change at all.

“Women support half of heaven,” was a wonderful phrase that we learned from socialist China. However, what we have heard after their “Reform and Liberation” are only stories no better than those in capitalist countries, including companies’ preference for men and a job shortage for women. I was astounded when I learned of a phenomenon called 婦女回家 (women returning home) in China. While Japanese women want to escape from being housewives, do Chinese women really want to do the opposite and go back home and become full-time housewives? The change of society is full of contradictions. Apparently, the difficulties women are suffering from in their lives are the same in all countries and under all political systems. China has its own misogyny.

As you know, the Japanese language has developed as a kind of creole by importing foreign languages like Chinese and English. You can see that in the mixture of hiragana (original Japanese phonetic characters), kanji (adopted Chinese characters), and katakana (phonetic characters used in describing loanwords from foreign languages) in written Japanese. Thus, the Japanese language has historically imported foreign ideas quite freely. But at the same time, it has failed to translate those ideas to Japanese. In Japan, the word “feminism” or “misogyny” has been accepted as a katakana loanword as it is. Meanwhile, in China, “feminism” is called 女性主義 (women-ism) and “women’s center” is called 女性中心 (women-center), which impressed me. Also, I was deeply impressed to learn that this book of mine would be translated as 『厭女症』 (“Woman-Hater Syndrome”). If it is a “syndrome,” it should be a distinct medical disorder. Then, how differently would “homosocial” and “homosexual” be translated? I’m all curiosity.

This disorder of woman-hater syndrome affects not only men but also women. An advantage of the idea of misogyny is that it can explain the dark side of women too. As I explained in the book, women's misogyny is much more troublesome than men's, because it can turn to self-hatred. If we realize this, we may solve many problems including why women could be easily divided and have conflicts over men, why there is a saying “Women’s enemies are other women,” or why mother-daughter relationships often tend to be awkward. Well, curing the disorder would not be so easy, but to realize the fact can at least be the first step.

Feminism in Japan has been influenced by many foreign countries. This book also has been influenced by Sedgwick, an American scholar in queer theory, as I stated above. And some people say that Japanese feminism is no more than an import from abroad. But I would like to counter this argument with a quote from Gayatri Spivak, a well-known scholar in post-colonial studies, who was born in India, studies English literature, has permanent U.S. residency, and teaches at Columbia University in New York. When she visited Japan to attend a symposium on gender theory, a Western scholar asked her if “gender” was not an idea which did not originally exist in Japan. Then she replied, “No matter where an idea was generated, if it is useful, you should use it.”

When a theory is applied to practice, it is customized according to the places,  subjects and contexts it deals with. For readers of the book, it would be hard not to apply the theory to their own societies, to try to solve the problems they have. As I discussed misogyny in Japan, I expect some Chinese readers will probably discuss misogyny in China in the near future. I hope I can read their books in Japanese translation. And what if there are any phenomena this theory cannot explain? I should welcome them as a sign that society is getting away from misogyny.

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Original article written by Chizuko Ueno
Translated by A. Tawara

A human chain for "Women's Peace" issued a red card to the Abe administration.

   Over 7,000 women and men dressed in red gathered and surrounded the Diet forming a human chain to raise their voices for peace and to say "No" against the runaway Abe administration on January 17th, 2015. They consider a wide range of policies pushed under the Abe administration as pro-war, especially the approval of the right to collective defense.


                



   Wearing red comes from the Icelandic Redstocking movement. The protest chain was formed four times on that day and at times reached 2 kilometers. Various advocates delivered strong speeches and encouraged people to lead lifestyles of peace and friendship.



Original article: http://wan.or.jp/emergency/?p=1886
                        http://wan.or.jp/ueno/?p=4748
Adopted and Translated by Naoko Uchibori

Category:  Forum on Labor, Social Policy, and Gender

“To Make a Square Society Round through Triangle Rakugo, Part2,” a Rakugo (storytelling) Oral Presentation and Workshop was organized by NPO Participation Planet on February 27, 2014.

Senkin Tei Ataisenkin talked about the “gender equality” through fun and easy-to-understand form of storytelling known as Rakugo at Tsunagaretto NAGOYA, making this the second time that a Rakugo Oral Presentation and Workshop had been held.

Senkin Tei Ataisenkin was originally a staff of Saitama Tsurugashima City Office. During his tenure at the community center, he has organized courses and events dealing with the topic of natural environment, home education, stage entertainment, community welfare and development to education courses for the elderly and planning business projects. He is a unique oral performer, who says that having chosen separate surnames when he got married further enhanced his interest in gender equality.

On this day, with lively musical accompaniment flowing in the Rakugo Hall, Ataisenkin appeared in the lounge where the workshop participants waited. The topic at this time was “media literacy.” Through comical storytelling, he talked about how expressions and films exposed in media frequently imply ideas such as “men should be this way,” “women should act that way,” “men should be leaders,” and “it’s natural for women to be supportive.” He also pointed out how natural these nuances get imprinted in the viewers’ consciousness.

However, Senkin Tei Ataisenkin added that the media is describing “a man and a woman” in general and not “how a man or a woman should be” so it is import for us to empower ourselves with the ability to decipher the difference.

While laughing and being drawn into the story, the participants became aware that our lives are in fact controlled by silent compelling force. It is the aim of Senkin Tei Ataisenkin to emphasize the importance of knowing these facts as well as stressing the fact that a chance to participate in planning or participating equally in joint activities is the right for both man and woman.

During the workshop the participants got in pairs and talked about the daily problems they face, the pain they incur, how our society is neglecting gender equality, and how the situation can be improved.

In addition, Senkin Tei Ataisenkin renamed the hit song of the 1990s sang by Airi Hiramatsu titled, My Room, White Shirt and Me to Me, My Room and White Shirt and changed some of the wording to make it into a parody. He used his real name of Shinichi Sakamoto as the composer of the changed lyrics which are pointed out as follows.

1)   “I have a request, my last name will be same as yours” → “There’s an exception, I will not change my family name to yours”

2)   “Please discuss it with me first and I can be content anywhere if I’m with you” → “Please discuss it with me later and I will go ahead and decide my own destination”

And so on. He sang with passion, reciting the lyrics rich in humor. On top of his great singing, his lyrics depicted the current situation of men and women in a society where the issue of equal participation of men and women is currently in progress.

After he had gotten the audience all excited, many participants with a big smile voiced out their wish to participate in more of these fun events.

Senkin Tei Ataisenkin says “This type of story is unnecessary to tell in a society where men and women have equal participation,” which made us feel anxious about the big problem the Japanese society of today is facing.

 

 

By Setsuko Nakamura

Translated and adapted by M. Doioka from Japanese website: http://wan.or.jp/group/?p=3213

Would the Abe Administration Like to Utilize Women? ---Chizuko’s Blog No. 62

A reporter from the political desk in the Asahi Shinbun interviewed me about “the utilization of women” by the Abe administration. Maybe it was my first interview with a political desk.

 

Most of the comments in the articles on “the utilization of women” are made by female managers or entrepreneurs. This issue influences these women directly.

 

I just wondered why they don’t ask female part-time workers and temporary workers. So I asked the reporter, and he said, “Now that you mention it, it makes me wonder too.”

 

He told me that the business news desk dealt with it because it was a labor issue. The newspaper company seems vertically divided like the administrative functions.

 

But the political desks should also discuss the government’s policies. Their policies include labor and welfare policies. If they don’t examine the issues and just write what politicians say, they should be called “the politicians’ desks” or “the government’s desks.”

I heard that the government is monitoring the mass media, but they didn’t complain about my comment. I guess that’s because the comment reflects nothing but the reality.

 

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Abe Considers Women as the “Convenient Workforce”

 

Prime Minister Abe intends to “utilize women” in the workforce. But he aims to take advantage of them conveniently and actually shows no respect for women’s rights. With the overall workforce running short because of the declining birthrate, women are the last resource the government can use. Abe’s method of “utilizing women” is to force women who are capable of doing so to work as hard as a man, while those who are family-oriented are employed as temporary workers and then thrown away like disposable items.

 

The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women in the UN has long been recommending the Japanese government to let couples have separate surnames and to eliminate the discrimination against illegitimate children. However, the LDP has neglected this. In particular, the Abe administration is one of the most rightist governments that Japan has ever had. It asserts firmly that “a family is the foundation of the nation.” They railroaded the Act on the Protection of Specially Designated Secrets. This fact seems to show that the LDP is getting even less and less liberal.

 

Abe advocates the amendment of the Public Office Election Act to raise the proportion of female lawmakers in the Diet, but it can only be achieved if more women run  office. Why can he tell companies to name more women to be executives when he is reluctant to make such little effort himself?

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Original Article Written by Chizuko Ueno (http://wan.or.jp/ueno/?p=3734)
Tranlated by N. Tajima

“A Girl’s Life of One Hundred Years” by Mine Yagi

A person’s life has a distinct story. As the personal life belongs only to that person, at the same time, we can see the deep in-rooted history and the broad world.

Listening to a radio program Rajio Shinyabin (Midnight Radio Letter) which introduced the topic of “Story about Moms”, I was driven by desire to read the book “Hyakunen Mae no Shoujo (A Girl’s Life of One Hundred Years)” (Kodansha) written by Yumi Funabiki,

The book is a story about a girl named Tei Terasaki. The author is a freelance editor who used to serve as an editor for “Taiyo” magazine since its first edition. When she published the book, her mother Tei had just turned 100 years old. Although her mother had never talked about her personal history to her daughter before, she had burst out talking about her personal story after reaching the age of 88. The author’s lively description of her mother’s childhood life style in a village is a superb ethnological record of a Japanese village of the time that was so common everywhere in Japan.

Tei was a baby “born on a day when lightening had struck” in a village of Joshu, now Gunma prefecture, mother’s hometown where Tei was delivered. After merely a month, Tei was sent back home from her mother’s parents’ house alone with a small package of baby clothes and diapers, Tei’s grandmother on her father’s side was an extraordinarily competent woman who was able to do all the household work perfectly as well as farming and weaving. Being overwhelmed by her competence, Tei’s mother refused to return to the in-law’s house, saying “I can’t possibly do anything like her, however hard I may try.” Tei had never seen her mom ever since. Her mother’s name was never mentioned in this book. Tei’s grandmother, Yasu, ran around the village asking for breast milk to feed her granddaughter.

Several years later, her father got remarried to a women who accepted his proposal under the condition that Tei be sent out for adoption. Tei, at the age of five, was ordered around to do things such as water drawing and kitchen work by her foster parents who told her, “You are big enough to do these chores.” When her father could no longer put up seeing her in such a situation, he brought her home on the condition that she would leave home when she finished school. Tei had returned at last to the care of her loving grandma she had missed so much.

After graduating from Ashikaga Girls’ School, she left home for Tokyo alone at the age of 16. She continued to study at night school while working and eventually graduated from school, now called Shin Watado Bunka Gakuen. She started working at the YWCA and got deeply involved in Social Christian Movement, where she met a guy who would be her husband.

While she raised five children, the period of 100 years, marked by Meiji, Taisho, and Showa eras, have passed. It is also quite intriguing to read the Terasaki Family’s sequel episodes.

Suddenly Tei’s story rang a bell. Oh, I know someone like her! It’s a story of a girl’s life of 60 years. The girl’s name, this time, is Midori, a cousin of mine on my father’s side. Her personal life story is exactly the same as Tei’s, which struck me.

Midori’s mother also did not return to her in-laws’ house after spending fifty days with her baby after giving birth at her hometown. Just like Yasu, Midori’s grandmother was a very capable, strong woman, who could handle any type of work. Being unable to get along with her mother-in-law, Midori’s mother left her behind and chose the life of her own.

After graduating from high school, Midori left her homeland, Kumamoto and got a job in Osaka. Although she got married, she had tolerated with her husband’s domestic violence for years until she was able to leave him and afterwards, her husband passed away. As a single mother, she worked in Kumamoto to raise two boys doing various jobs.

One day, out of the blue, one of her sons engaged in ODA’s public construction project in Algeria called her, saying, “Mom, I found a nice house on the Internet for you. What do you think?”

While I was visiting my hometown in Kumamoto, I was asked by her to help out on this matter.　She said, “I just don’t know how to handle it. Help me, please!”

Then I got involved in the negotiations about the house on behalf of her. E-mails flew back and forth among the real estate agent in Kumamoto, her son in Algeria, and myself in Kyoto. And finally, as she wished, a deal of the old small house had been done and I stood beside her while the contract was being signed.

After all those days and years, she is now living a very peaceful life, watching over her garden that is full of sunshine and currently filled with scent emitting from the pink plum blossoms. I am quite thankful to her for paying occasional visits to my mother who also lives alone in Kumamoto whenever she has time from work.

People’s lives, women’s lives, they are so diverse, But when they die, everyone is equal. It all balances out in the end.

Seeing a sign of ominous change in Japanese society nowadays, I feel I have to be ready for the coming era. How many years are left until I become 100 years old?  I do wish I would be able to weave “ｍy own original story” without taking my eyes off this transition of the time.

Original Article on the WAN Website: http://wan.or.jp/reading/?p=13014

Translated and Adapted by Yoko Hayami

Report of the Taipei Women’s Rescue Foundation Visit - Prior to the opening of the Peace Memorial Museum of the Comfort Women and Women’s Rights

This December, a museum will open in Taiwan that retains the history for the purpose of resolving the Taiwan’s comfort women issue. Prior to this, I had an opportunity on September 4 to visit the Taipei Women’s Rescue Foundation that was in preparation of the museum and to interview its representative, Ms. Shu Hua Kang and its international public relations staff, Ms. Shuang-shuang Sandra Keng.

Taiwan’s Comfort Women Issue

The Foundation was established in 1987 setting out to stop trafficking girls for prostitution which they were forced into due to poverty. Since then, the Foundation has dealt with DV issues and, in 1992, started engaging in activities to resolve Taiwan’s comfort women issue.

Representative, Ms. Kang (right) and Ms. Keng

The fact not so well-known in Japan is that many Taiwanese women were also forced to comfort Japanese soldiers during World War II. The estimated number of those women is approximately 2,000.

Since 1992, the female victims (like halmeoni in Korean, they are called ah-ma in Chinese which means grandmother) have spoken out and the number reached 58 by 1996. Many of them have passed away by now and there are only 6 survivors. The oldest of them turns 92.

Remained documents prove that women were recruited back then by the government office in Taiwan under Japan’s control and indicate the Imperial Army’s arrangement for transportation for the women. The Japanese government’s involvement in this matter has been clearly proved, however, all trials that demanded the Japanese government for apology and compensation to comfort women so far were lost. Still, the ah-ma say they are not lost at heart.

The ah-ma and their supporters have had public protests on every August 15 in front of the exchange association (an alternative to the embassy). Although the Foundation and supporters have been the only protesters for the last 4 years due to aging of the ah-ma, they did hand over a protest to the association staff. Starting next year, the protest day will be switched to August 14 as it became the memorial day for comfort women.

Mental Care

Taiwanese ah-ma refused the compensation offered by the Asian Women’s Fund in Japan because an apology by the Japanese government was all they wanted.

The Taiwanese government has not raised an official protest against the Japanese government but has offered livelihood aid to the ah-ma. The Foundation staff have supported the ah-ma treating every one of them sincerely.

The Foundation has particularly put an effort on mental care.

The Foundation and supporters have offered over 70 workshops for the ah-ma who were physically and psychologically hurt as young and had lots of hardships even after that. Creating an opportunity for the ah-ma to enjoy singing, dancing, and drawing pictures, and also speak out their memories helps them to bring out their anger against the Japanese government as well as their harsh fate, and also to heal their pain in heart. Some workshops gave an opportunity to put on a wedding dress to the ah-ma who gave up on marriage for the past that they had no choice but to become comfort women.

There was also a project to make the ah-ma’s dreams come true. Their dreams such as serving as a police officer or mail carrier for a day became real in the project. Behind those dreams was the adoration of the ah-ma who took care of laundry at the police department over 20 years or who longed to be a mail carrier because the occupation was a civil servant and required a reading skill.

These activities show that the Foundation has supported every ah-ma’s life staying closely with their heart, which is quite impressive. These activities are no longer possible as the surviving ah-ma are quite old; however, counselors are still remaining a strong support for the ah-ma by visiting their homes individually.

The Foundation

The Foundation has also made a significant contribution to the revisions of laws in regards to violence against women and children. The executive board members of the Foundation are female activists and lawyers. Some woman started off with the activities at the Foundation and ended up as the legal director of the government. The Foundation’s strength is the connection with politics and laws. There are 50 staff members total and many of them are still young. Upon our visit, too, over 10 young staff members were working with their PCs at their individual booth in the Foundation office. These staff members are not volunteers but are paid the salary almost equal to the amount a university graduate with no career experience would usually receive in Taiwan. This made both my accompanied graduate student and me pretty envious. The Foundation is operated by the government assistance and donations. It made my wish for such a powerful women’s movement even stronger.

The Foundation staff

  

For the Museum Opening in December

The Peace Memorial Museum for the Comfort Women and Women’s Rights are surely getting ready for its opening on this December 10 (the World Human Rights Day). President Ma Ying-jeou is scheduled to attend the opening ceremony.

“The success of this museum is the first challenge,” says Ms. Kang. They wish the museum to be a training ground that hands down the history to the next generation and shows the history from a global viewpoint. It will contribute to prevent violence against women as well as wartime sexual violence.

“For the development, peace, and safety for women” – this is the motto of the Foundation.

Representative Kang next to the sign of “No More DV!”

Through the visit to the Foundation, I was quite impressed with their powerful activities by sincerely staying close with female victims including comfort women. My wish now is even stronger for WAN to play a role in the global solidarity of women and strengthening of women’s rights.

Please visit the Foundation’s website which is also available in English (http://www.twrf.org.tw/index.asp) and the website of Taiwan’s Virtual Museum on Sexual Slavery by Japanese Military which is also available in Japanese (http://www.womandpeace.org.tw/www_jp/index.html). Furthermore, with the Foundation’s cooperation, the special exhibition “Taiwan “Comfort Women” Testimonies: How Ah-ma were Made into Japanese” is underway at the Women’s Active Museum on War and Peace (WAM) in Waseda, Tokyo until June 2014. (For details, see　http://wam-peace.org/.)

WAN is planning to cover a story about the December museum opening on our website*.

*Note: The museum opening has been postponed to mid-2014. 

Original article on the WAN website:  http://wan.or.jp/reading/?p=12210
translated and adapted by K. Moriya.