Cooperation over Conflict: The Women's Movement and the State in Postwar Japan (review)

This slim volume is a useful contribution to the literature on Japanese women and on civil society in Japan. Murase examines the "paradox of Japan's social, political, and economic progress alongside the persistence of gender inequality" and focuses on power by asking "Why have Japanese women been unable to achieve greater equality through the political process?" (p. 2).

She points out that there are relatively few works on women that "explicitly address Japanese political processes or institutions" and that Japan is often absent from comparative studies on women's politics (p. 4). This small number of studies includes recent work by Robin LeBlanc and by Joyce Gelb. LeBlanc examined citizenship and contrasted the on-the-ground perspective of the "bicycle citizen" housewives with that of politicians who view the local community from the perspective of taxis as they drive through.¹ Gelb compared the women's movements, rights, and politics in Japan and in the United States and examined an array of policies as well as the impact of international feminism on Japanese women's groups and leaders.²

Murase analyzes women's groups, women's centers, and women's policy. Her focus is domestic and does not emphasize the impact of international women's movements on Japan. It also does not examine the roles of women politicians or political party members. It provides a very important piece to the puzzle of gender inequality in Japan (p. 4) and should be read together with Gelb and LeBlanc to obtain a fuller picture of the contemporary situation. Her study is grounded in an extensive multidisciplinary literature. The questions she asks parallel those of earlier authors but in the context of the twenty-first century.

For example, in response to a colleague's (mis)perception that there were no "serious feminist theorists" in Japan, Sandra Buckley noted in 1997 that the voices of Japanese feminism were difficult to identify and track because they appeared in nonmainstream and informal publications (p. xi).³ A decade later, Murase deals with the perception that there is no women's movement in Japan and finds a thriving movement with organizations ranging from small grassroots groups to national-level highly professionalized ones (pp. 106–7). Murase then asks whether the goal of the women's movement is equality with men.

Since Murase's focus is political, it is useful to consider how Japanese women view political activity. Although there are many examples of Japanese women who have challenged the system, and who are active politically, for the majority of women, political activity may be perceived as irrelevant or contradictory to their very gender roles and the way they participate in community. For example, LeBlanc argued that housewives' obligation to family is at the heart of citizenship and that the housewives she studied marginalized the political. They "tended to restrain themselves from perceiving even their most publicly oriented experiences as citizenship," and "their housewife identities led these women to align themselves with a set of values and a manner of behaving that they believed was incompatible with the political world."⁴ In Murase's terms, these housewives would be more comfortable with cooperation than with conflict. However, particularly since the 1990s, the focus of citizens' interest articulation in Japan has changed from opposition movements to civil society, citizens' rights, and the potential for action that is autonomous rather than simply cooperative with the government.

Murase is very clear about the relationship between the Japanese government and the women's organizations she studied. She points out the support the Japanese government has given to women's organizations and issues. The provision of land and facilities for public women's centers as well as financial support for programs is a major contribution. Although largely symbolic, the Basic Law for a Gender-Equal Society set policy direction that facilitated the quick passage of specific legislation such as the Law on...