Lost In Translation

So Sorry

Kate Elwood  discusses th edifferences in apologizing between Americans adn Japanes in her latest Cultural Conundrums colum for the Daily Yomiuri:

Carey had received an e-mail from a Japanese coworker, whom I'll call Mr. Setoguchi, asking for some information. Carey realized that another colleague had already sent what had been requested to both her and Mr. Setoguchi some months earlier. She did a quick search of her in-box and forwarded the pertinent e-mail to Mr. Setoguchi, with a quick note along the lines of, "Here is the information you requested." Happy to have been able to be so promptly helpful, Carey did not give the matter another thought. Until a few hours later, anyway. That's when Carey received a reply from Mr. Setoguchi and reconsidered her actions.

The e-mail's subject heading was owabi (apology). In the message Mr. Setoguchi apologized to Carey for asking for information that had already been sent, and further promised to be more careful in the future so the same thing would not happen again. The e-mail ended with another quick apology. Mr. Setoguchi seemed sincerely mortified, which made Carey feel bad. She hadn't meant to accentuate his lack of attention, simply to respond to him swiftly. She had expected a less profuse response from Mr. Setoguchi, something more along the lines of, "Thanks for forwarding the e-mail which I had overlooked." Carey felt like writing back to apologize for embarrassing him. But apologizing for making someone apologize seemed likely to only prolong the uncomfortable situation, so she let it go.

Applied linguist Naomi Sugimoto asked 200 American and 181 Japanese students to fill in questionnaires related to 12 scenarios in which someone had caused harm or inconvenience to another person. One of the questions asked about each situation was whether the offender should do or say something. Results indicated that the Japanese respondents favored actions or words more frequently than their American counterparts. In three of the situations, the percentage of Japanese responding affirmatively was at least 10 percentage points higher than the corresponding figure among American respondents. Across all situations the Japanese respondents indicated something needed to be said or done about 5 percent more often. In one scenario where inconvenience was caused by a meeting cancellation, 82 percent of the Japanese students said something should be said or done, but only 63 percent of the Americans did.

Moreover, the phrasing of apologies also varied. Sixty-three percent of apologies formulated by the Americans were "unelaborated"--such as "Sorry about that"--but only 39 percent of the Japanese apologies used minimal forms. The Japanese respondents also made "requests of forgiveness" for 21 percent of all situations compared to 7 percent for American students. In a scenario about breaking a friend's portable music player, 32 percent of the Japanese students asked for forgiveness but only 3 percent of the Americans did.

Public policy researcher Yoshiko Takahashi has investigated the importance of apologies in restorative justice. She asked 117 American and 198 Japanese students to imagine that a 17-year-old recidivist had stolen 500 dollars from their home. How important would an apology from the perpetrator be for them? Sixty-nine percent of the Americans agreed or strongly agreed that an apology would be important. On the other hand, 95 percent of the Japanese respondents felt this way.

Moreover, 49 percent of the Japanese students considered an apology a "very important" part of the resolution process compared to 18 percent of the Americans. Other response options bore out the notion that apologies were much more vital for the Japanese respondents. Fifty-six percent of the American students said an apology would be "nice, but would not change their feelings," compared to 37 percent of the Japanese. Sixteen percent of the American students said an apology was "not necessary" as opposed to 3 percent of their Japanese counterparts.

Family Visit March 2012: Part 3

Lunch at an undon shop, Kraig and Dad got the beef udon noodles with fried rice and pickles.

We shared karage (fried chicken).

I got udon with tempura.

Dad had to use a children's fork for the meal...

I took Kraig for a tour of Harajuku/Omotesando/Shibuya before going out for dinner. Here at Meiji Jingu Shrine at the tori gate.

Nihonshu (sake) barrels.

 In front of the shrine proper.

A statue in Omotesando.

The Prada building in Omotesando.

Children's Museum.

Shibuya Crossing.

Dinner at Andy's Shin Hinomoto with Darrell.

Deep fried oysters from Hiroshima for Dad.

Sashimi (two kinds of tuna and hirame) for Kraig.

Karage (fried chicken).

Mahi Mahi (John Dogherty).

Tempura (Lotus roots, anago/ eel, eggplant, pumpkin, shrimp, etc.).

Tokyo Internaitonal Forum.

Me and Kraig at Mucho.

Shinjuku at night.

Studio Alta.

Stray Dogs & Lone Wolves

Stray Dogs & Lone Wolves (2005) is a good introduction to the samurai film genre, but it is not complete and it is not an academic foray into the subject. That being said, there's lots of good information and it has inspired me to search out some of the titles that I was previously unfamiliar with. However, I would liked to have had more commentary about the authenticity and tradition per se. Since this book was published in 2005, there have been several samurai films made by the likes of Yoji Yamada and Takashi Miike-so the tradition hasn't completely much like the western equivalent, the western. It is a good reference book, but it is far from being the definitive samurai film book.

Cultural Conundrums: Work and Play

Kate Elwood focuses on the concepts of work and play in this week's Yomiuri column:

The poster boy for American diligence is undoubtedly the 18th-century statesman and inventor Benjamin Franklin. His values of hard work and frugality became embedded in American culture, particularly through the many proverbs he recorded in his Poor Richard's Almanack, such as "Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise."

Kishichi Watanabe, a business historian, has compared Franklin's way of thinking with that of Ishida Baigan, a Japanese business philosopher who was active right around the same time as Franklin. Baigan established the Sekimon Shingaku movement, which with government support became the most prominent educational establishment of the merchant class in the 18th century.

Watanabe suggests, however, that while both Franklin and Baigan advocated many similar values, Franklin additionally espoused self-assertiveness and individuality, while Baigan promoted submission and loyalty. It is possible that the differing philosophies of these thinkers contributed to the divergent notion of diligence in the two cultures.

The 2010 Asia-Pacific Value Survey conducted by the Tokyo-based Institute of Statistical Mathematics asked 1,002 American adults and 1,800 Japanese adults to respond to 54 questions, choosing from a number of set responses. Regarding a question about their attitude toward life, roughly half of both groups chose "Lead an honest and ethical life." The second and third most common responses for the Japanese group were "Don't think about money or fame; just live a life that suits your own taste" (21 percent) and "Live each day as it comes, optimistically and without worrying" (14 percent).

These were also the next two most prevalent responses for the Americans, although the order of frequency was reversed, with 20 percent taking each day as it comes, and 16 percent not thinking about money or fame. Eleven percent of the Japanese chose "Make a social commitment by being active in volunteer work," but only 4 percent of the Americans selected this as best reflecting their life attitude. "Make a name for yourself by studying earnestly" received the lowest frequency rate for both groups, at 2 percent for the Americans and 1 percent for the Japanese.

Another question asked whether, if the respondents had enough money to live comfortably for the rest of their lives, they would continue to work. The majority of both groups said they'd continue to work, but the Japanese percentage was a bit higher: 63 percent compared to 56 percent for the American responses.

There was more variation regarding the most important factor in work, although not necessarily pointing to a greater emphasis on diligence among Japanese compared to Americans. Of four choices, the top response for the Americans was "a good income so that you do not have to have any worries about money," with 35 percent answering in this way, but this was the choice that had the lowest percentage frequency for the Japanese respondents, at 16 percent. The Japanese respondents' most common choice was the same as the Americans' second choice: "Doing an important job which gives you a feeling of accomplishment," with 39 percent and 32 percent respectively. The Japanese respondents' second choice, "Working with people you like," selected by 24 percent, however, was the last choice for the Americans, with a frequency rate of only 9 percent.

A quick Internet search revealed that several Japanese bloggers also noticed the poster for the cram school, with most commenting very favorably on it. One person made a wry corollary to it, writing, "The child who talks of a dream is the one who is learning fully--I didn't learn so I don't have a dream."

Cultural Conundrums: Please Treat Me Nice

Kate Elwood always seems to come up with an interesting cultural concept to discuss in her column for the Daily Yomiuri. This week she looks at the concept of yoroshiku onegaishimasu-a very useful expression:

The yoroshiku onegai shimasu expression is quickly mastered by learners of Japanese because it works so well in a wide range of situations, most frequently as something to say to open a conversation, discussion or speech, or to wrap things up and move on. Students of Japanese may find the literal meaning a bit strange, but few fail to be heartily grateful for this magic bullet that allows them to utter the mot juste on such a variety of different occasions.

The phrase is so vital that it can come to characterize an entire communicative event. Nigel Stott, an English education researcher, quotes an assistant language teacher (ALT) who wrote of "yoroshikuing," transforming the phrase into a dynamic gerund. "Please be nice to me" might sound lame and even needy in English but if it does the trick in Japanese and is easy to execute, no learner is likely to find anything problematic about it, and they quickly become merry yoroshiku-ers.

But for Japanese speakers, it's not so easy to come to terms with life without the word and its beseeching appurtenances. Many a Japanese person who speaks English quite well has asked me how to say yoroshiku onegai shimasu in English.

People with advanced English skills must have realized long before that no similarly multifunctional equivalent exists in English, yet wistfully they cannot quite abandon the hunt. They maintain the hope to uncover the hidden formula which will make awkward junctures in English communication manageable in the same way. Non-Japanese who have lived in this country for a long time often likewise report a yearning for yoroshiku when speaking their native language.

Recently I was rereading an article by the applied linguists Leslie Beebe, Tomoko Takahashi, and Robin Uliss-Weltz, and I was struck by a phrase they used in connection with their own investigation into cross-cultural refusals, calling them a "sticking point." I had just that morning listened to one of my students give a presentation which began with an inept translation of yoroshiku onegai shimasu, perhaps one of the greatest sticking points for Japanese communicating in English.

Foreign-language textbooks obviously teach a variety of phrases that correspond to the kinds of things one might say in places in which yoroshiku onegai shimasu would be used, such as "Nice to meet you," "It is/was a pleasure to see you," and "I look forward to working/continuing to work with you." In opening speeches, it is possible to say something like "I appreciate the opportunity to speak to you today." Yet again and again students blithely ignore what they've learned and fall back on strange-sounding translations of yoroshiku onegai shimasu.

The problem is that the appropriate phrases in the target language can feel like poor stand-ins for the "real" thing. There is a sense that they simply don't fulfill deeper communicative objectives. While Japanese learners of foreign languages must resign themselves to making do with other less satisfying not-quite-counterparts to the Japanese expression, applied linguists have attempted to figure out what it is that yoroshiku onegai shimasu really does.

Sociolinguist Makiko Takekuro speaks of the "deletion-impossible and irreplaceable nature" of yoroshiku onegai shimasu. To support her assertion, Takekuro tried to replace naturally occurring instances of the phrase with other words in Japanese, noting that other ways of conveying the content nevertheless fail to accomplish yoroshiku onegai shimasu's essential function of demonstrating engagement in meaningful social interaction.

The politeness theory formulated by linguists Penelope Brown and Stephen Levinson posited the notion that the avoidance of imposition is one facet of politeness. This is accomplished in a number of ways, but one clear way this is achieved is through sidestepping direct requests in favor of wordings like "I wonder if you might be willing to...," "Is it possible to perhaps..." and so on. Yoroshiku onegai shimasu, a supreme example of deferent imposition, flies in the face of this way of looking at politeness, as many researchers on Japan politeness have pointed out, most notably Yoshiko Matsumoto.

So how does making a direct request end up being polite? Applied linguist Jun Ohashi posits the notion of "debt-credit equilibrium" as a central aspect of Japanese politeness. According to Ohashi, by making the yoroshiku invocation, a speaker makes plain that he or she is indebted to the other person, which is polite in a society that values reciprocity especially in terms of obligation, and it is expected that the debt will later be repaid.

In essence, a display of neediness, culturally impermissible in most English-language discourse situations, is at the heart of the expression. Ohashi further suggests that it is this profound orientation toward debt and the striving for its balance that leads to the frequent employment of the expression by both speakers in a conversation, even when one interlocutor is clearly the beneficiary. By also saying yoroshiku onegai shimasu, the benefactor graciously conceals his or her credit or disencumbers the recipient of their debt.

 

Cartels Of The Mind

Ivan Hall's muckraking book Cartels Of The Mind: Japan's Intellectual Closed Shop  may have been written in 1998, but it is still valid today in many respects. Hall looks at three areas: academia, law, and journalism. I have the most experience with academia and can attest that little progress has been made in the last 14 years. Hall cites that professor are given one to three year contracts, which is still true at many institutions. Some progress has been made in this regard since there are now four year contracts renewable once (this is the one I am on). And there is tenure available for foreigners, but only a small percentage of professors are tenured. Some schools are proactively trying to woo foreign students as the university age pool of domestic students shrinks yearly, some administers are actively trying to bring in foreign students. In fact this year Tokyo University stated that within five years they will switch to a western semester system in order to make it easier for foreign students to study at their university. It is not clear what effect this will have on other universities, I suspect little since Tokyo University has always been an exception. The domestic job market prefers to hire new employees at the beginning of the fiscal year,which is April in Japan. It is safe to say that almost all of the innovative research related to commerce takes place in closed environments of the large corporations that support them through their own research and development plans rather than in open exchanges in the universities. 

The world of journalism is an area I am less familiar with, however with a little research I have found that little has changed. This article from the NY Times in 2009 shows that the press clubs continue to exist and parcel out information in an unfair manner. Japan is known for having a toothless press corps with little investigative or muckraking journalism taking place in an industry where access is everything. This results in an insular back scratching between journalists and their sources.

The legal world is somewhat more accessible to me since I worked in the law department teaching English at a mid-tier university for five years. In 2004 they implemented a new system that would require bar applicants graduate level law school law school degrees in 2006. With this new law school system came a new bar exam, with a 40-50% passage rate which is capped by a numerical quota. Applicants are now limited to taking the exam three times in a five year period. Despite the much higher bar passage rate with the new exam, due to the quotas, approximately half of Japanese law school graduates will never be admitted to practice. The new system also reduced the apprenticeship period at the Legal Research and Training Institute to one year. Therefore, even though there has been "some" change there are gatekeepers to maintaining a legal elite. In 2009 a lay jury system was implemented but it has been seen as toothless since judges have a habit of over turning decisions by the lay jury. Judges are regularly racist and sexist in custody disputes giving sole legal custody to the Japanese parent in mixed marriages almost 100% of the time. (There is no joint custody so many children never see the other parent again).  Needles to say there needs to be major reforms in their legal system that has a 90% conviction rate and countless human rights abuses.

In the conclusion, Hall makes some suggestions to change this system of the cartels of the mind: 1) Gaiatsu-united foreign pressure to provide equal access 2) Severing direct control of higher education from Monbusho (The Ministry of Education) 3) U.S. Friendship groups should deal with lack of reciprocity 4) American should take compensatory measure as a "countervailing power" 5) Recognition and open debate among those in the transpacific dialogue about manipulative tactics of veiling and intimidation 6) The U.S. should demand a larger Japanese military contribution to the American strategic position in Est Asia as a substitute for the economic and social opening of Japan. I think that political economic realities continue to trump all of these positions that have allowed the cartels of the mind to continue to thrive.

Food For Thought

In Kate Elwood's last column of 2011 for The Daily Yomiuri she looks at the cultural associations with western and eastern staples, bread and rice:

Both bread and rice symbolize livelihood, as can be seen in a variety of phrases such as "earn one's bread," "know which side your bread is buttered on" and "take bread from someone's mouth," as well as meshi no tane ("rice seed": a means of living), meshi ga kuenai ("cannot eat rice": cannot make a living), and fude ippon de meshi o kuu ("eat rice by one ink brush": make a living as a writer). "Eating the bread of idleness" also corresponds nicely to muda meshi o kuu, to eat useless rice, which means to be unproductive. Bread and rice also both signify a communal experience. The idiom "break bread together" signifies sharing a meal, similar to onaji kama no meshi o kuu, to eat from the same rice-cooking pot.

But cultural associations of rice perhaps go one step further. Linguists Dmitrij Dobrovol'skij and Elisabeth Piiraninen have made a study of cross-cultural and cross-linguistic figurative language. They note that rice is further associated with the whole living situation, as exhibited in the phrase hiyameshi o kuwasareru, being made to eat cold rice, a way of expressing being treated coldly. Tanin no meshi o kuu, eating the rice of other people, means to gain experience and become mature by leaving one's family.

Unlike these rice expressions, a focus on undesirable or external sources of sustenance is not seen in common bread idioms. "Bread and water" may be understood to be the most minimal provisions, traditionally associated with provisions for prisoners, but the expression does not figuratively describe a chilly reception. There is no idiom related to eating bread somewhere else and to say it would simply suggest a sandwich obtained elsewhere, not a vital representation of becoming independent from Mom and Dad.

A traditional name for Japan is Toyoashihara no Mizuho no Kuni--the land where abundant rice shoots ripen beautifully. Emiko Onuki-Tierney is an anthropologist who has done extensive research on the Japanese attitude toward rice, including writing a book titled Rice as Self: Japanese Identities through Time. According to Onuki-Tierney, in one story in the Kojiki collection of myths about the origin of Japan, the goddess Amaterasu is the mother of a "grain soul" and Jimmu, the first emperor of Japan, is the son of one. Amaterasu gives Jimmu rice grains and tells him to transform the wilderness into a land of rice. Onuki-Tierney points out that unlike other creation myths in the world, Japan's mythology is not about the creation of the universe but about changing wilderness through rice cultivation. While other Asian countries obviously also have rice, Japan's own rice has been viewed as distinct. Westerners were not traditionally thought of as bread-eaters but rather meat-eaters, as opposed to rice-eating Japanese people, due to Buddhist prohibitions in Japan on the consumption of meat.

The shamoji rice spatula is a symbol of the Japanese housewife. While less prevalent than it used to be, it can still be seen in various depictions of smiling women wearing kappogi long-sleeved aprons and holding the shamoji aloft, at the ready to serve up some warm nourishment. This contrasts vividly with the traditional Western images of angry housewives brandishing rolling pins, not equipped to joyfully roll out some pastry to supply their family members with a delicious savory or sweet pie, but rather to whack a wayward husband over the head. Occasionally Japanese women are portrayed using a menbo rolling pin in a similar way, but such representations are far less frequent than those of cheerful shamoji holders.

In this way, perhaps warm rice eaten at home has a cultural resonance not easily supplanted. Yet, as always, the picture is not completely black and white. When I spent a year in Europe for research a little while ago I made rice every day, thanks to a rice cooker a colleague returning to Japan after her own sabbatical had kindly passed on to me. On the other hand, many Japanese women I met in Europe had by and large happily abandoned rice for bread in their daily lives, and they expressed surprise and amusement that my daughter and I persisted in eating rice at least once a day. If rice is a symbol of physical and spiritual sustenance perhaps it can be said that variety is the rice of life.

Taiga Dramas

Here's an interesting column on Japanese period TV dramas from Sawa Kurotani for the Daily Yomiuri:

A glance at the list of Taiga dramas quickly reveals that the series keeps revisiting the same historical moments. The three most frequently depicted time periods are: the Sengoku (warring) to Azuchi-Momoyama period, which extended from the late 15th to late 16th century; the transition from the Tokugawa shogunate to the Meiji era (1868-1912); and the middle of the Edo period (1603-1867).

However, what makes a jidaigeki (period drama) series popular for nearly five decades has little to do with history itself. Instead, it has everything to do with how we interpret particular historical figures and project our own social reality onto that of other eras. The middle of the Edo period was a time of peace and affluence arriving after a century of continuous warfare that resonated with Japanese viewers during the economic growth of the 1960s and '70s.

The Ako incident in 1703, in which the former retainers of the Ako clan avenged their lord's unjust death, marked an important moment in which the roles of samurai shifted from professional warriors to bureaucrats and administrators. The former Ako retainers' adherence to the outdated code of conduct and obsolete wartime ethos has solicited popular sympathy ever since its first theatrical adaptation in the late Edo period, but gained new significance in the 1960s and '70s when the old was rapidly replaced by the new.

The Sengoku period, with its chaotic social environment of gekokujo--the "bottom" overthrowing the "top" in bloody battles, turning social hierarchy upside down overnight--seems far removed from a postwar Japan ruled by social order and peacefulness. Yet, the "battle and conquer" ideology of Sengoku warlords appealed to postwar generations of sarariiman who saw themselves as warriors fighting and winning in a fierce economic battle to catapult Japan to a position of great power and global influence. The three most famous warlords of the period--Oda Nobunaga, Toyotomi Hideyoshi and Tokugawa Ieyasu--are also known for their distinct leadership styles, which resonated with corporate managers who identified with one of the three leaders.

The turbulent period toward the end of the 19th century, when the long rule of the Tokugawa shogunate collapsed and political control of Japan was "returned" to the emperor, represents another moment of upheaval when established social order broke down and competing world views clashed against one another. Key actors of this era, such as Tokugawa Yoshinobu, Sakamoto Ryoma and Saigo Takamori, had to set aside ingrained prejudices, shake hands with age-old enemies and embrace foreign ideas and new technologies to strengthen a newly emerging nation. They had also forsaken their personal well-being and ignored individual gain for the sake of a larger cause.

In his recent book, economist Taichi Sakaiya identifies the three most significant moments of "defeat" in Japan's modern history: the end of the Tokugawa shogunate, World War II and the two decades following the collapse of "bubble" economy. After the first two defeats, Japan came up with new paradigms to reinvent itself and move forward. Now that Japan is facing its third defeat, he implores its political and economic leaders to devise a new way of thinking and show a clear course of action so Japan can once again rise from the ashes.

Incidentally, next year's Taiga drama, Taira no Kiyomori, will purportedly follow the life of an energetic warrior from the late Heian period (794-1192) who broke away from a stifling social order to look outward at the rest of the world--much like Sakamoto Ryoma from 2010's Ryoma-den and Oda Nobunaga, the uncle of 2011's heroine Princess Go from Go-Himetachi no Sengoku. Until we find our own Ryomas, Nobunagas and Kiyomoris, we can at least continue watching Taiga Dorama to fulfill our yearning for a true leader, if only for 45 minutes a week.

Geisha * Harlot * Strangler * Star

William Johnston's book Geisha, Harlot, Strangler, Star: A Woman, Sex, and Morality in Modern Japan (2004) is a fascinating book in several ways. Sada Abe's story is extremely famous and has been written about many many times since it occurred in 1936. Most of my knowledge comes from Nagisa Oshima's film, In The Realm Of The Senses (1976). It is a enthralling analysis of Abe's life history, observations about modern Japanese society, and police interrogations and justice. It seems that she was spoiled by her parents early. And  later in her adolescence she was turned out of the house while they were fighting with her older siblings about the legacy of the family tatami mat making business. At this time she suffered rape from an acquaintance in her neighborhood who was older and went to Waseda. She told her mother who approached the family who refused to acknowledge the incident. Abe suffered from this thinking that she could not lead a conventional since she was no longer  a virgin and wouldn't be considered marriage material despite her mother's advice to forget about and not disclose this information. She started to steal money from her parents and hangout with a bad crowd and looking for fun in Asakusa. Later after they moved to Saitama, she took up with a neighbor and was living fast, so her father decided to sell her to a brothel-supposedly to let her get it out of her system then have her return to the family. Johnston states that this was a common practice among middle class families with wild daughters, which seems absolutely shocking to me. This was a turning point for Abe, who vowed to never return to her family after this.

The life she lead after this was dizzily chaotic life of going from one brothel to another getting large loans that have to be paid back, escapes from exploitative tea houses, tawdry affairs, and the contraction of syphilis at different times throughout her life. She finally tries to go straight, but is unable to for a number of reasons: lack of education, a taste for high living, exploitation by others, her high sex drive, etc. The whole system of running up high bills and escaping or paying a fraction seems inefficient and unlikely to me. At the point she has run off with the man she would kill, Kichi Ishida, she is getting her money from a kindly City Hall official from Nagoya. All of her many dealings with men suggest that most of them were keeping mistresses and/or playing around, and many wives were tolerating this or turning a blind eye-perhaps due to the lack of "love marriages" and the dearth of arranged marriages? Essentially, she was obsessed with Ishida whom she found irresistible and wanted to dominate/control him and stop him from having sex with other women or his wife and be hers alone. They were engaging in rough sex by strangling each other during climax for a more intense effect-has this been done since the karma sutra? This led to her strangling Ishida. Then she severed his genitals after strangling him as a sort of memento. There would be no question of double suicide or running off together-his wife ran a prosperous restaurant in Nakano and he had two children. The police testimony is a fascinating document that Johnston draws from and has included in its full form. She is given an eight year sentence and is dogged continually about the incident until she disappears from public view. The genitals of Ishida were given to university and also mysteriously disappeared. It is easy to se how this story has captured the attentions of millions since its occurrence.

Divorce In Japan

Divorce In Japan: Family, Gender, and the Sate 1600-2000 (2004) by Sophia professor Harald Fuess is an academic look at divorce in the last four centuries in Japan. The chapters are as follows: (1) The Forgotten History of Japanese Divorce, (2) For the Sake of the House: Edo-Period Patterns, Perceptions, and Precedents, (3) Testing A Spouse: The Trial Marriage System, (4) Unsuitable to the Family Tradition? Popular Divorce Customs in the 1870s, (5) Between French Law and Japanese Customs: Codifying Divorce in Meiji Japan, (6) When Marriage Was on the Rise: Declining Divorce Rates 1898-1940 (7) Forward To The Past: A Historical Perspective on Japanese Divorce After WWII. There are several interesting observations and conclusion made by Fuess throughout this academic study. For example, In the Edo period (1600-1868) there was little interest by the government in controlling divorce. The exception was among samurai families that used it as a control for political unrest. It was known as a dark age for women who received the most disadvantages from divorce. The most common reasons for divorce, which were among the highest in the world at that time were not bearing children, lack of obedience and disease.  During the Meiji era the causes for divorce were: ease of marriage and divorce, parental interference, lack of consent at marriage, deception by the go-between, cupidity (desire for wealth), simple poverty. One of the reason for the decline of divorce rates was honor/loss of virginity needed to be compensated and that mean that divorce had become a shameful event. The book is probably only of interest for academics or those with a great interest in Japan. Additionally, it has lots of charts and graphs and stylistically can be quite turgid at times.