Feminist Movements in Contemporary Japan

<p>In contemporary Japan there is much ambivalence about women’s roles and the term feminism is not widely recognised or considered relevant. Nonetheless as this book shows there is a flourishing feminist movement in contemporary Japan. The book investigates the features and effects of feminism in contemporary Japan in non-government (NGO) women’s groups government-run women’s centres and the individual activities of feminists Haruka Yoko and Kitahara Minori. Based on two years of fieldwork conducted in Japan and drawing on extensive interviews and ethnographic data it argues that the work of individual activists and women’s organisations in Japan promotes real and potential change to gender roles and expectations among Japanese women. It explores the ways that feminism is created promoted and limited among Japanese women and advocates a broader construction of what the feminist movement is understood to be and a rethinking of the boundaries of feminist identification. It also addresses the impact of legislation government bureaucracy literature and the internet as avenues of feminist development and details the ways which these promote agency – the ability to act – among Japanese women. </p>