The Mountain Is Moving: Japanese Women's Lives by Patricia Morley (review)

humanities 471 paradox. To the postmodern reader, Pearson's ability to accept multiple portraits of reality, each of them true but incomplete, may seem enlightened, but historians looking for certainties are less enthralled. Pearson used his talents best in the years during which he was confined to the opposition benches and did not have the responsibility to make policy decisions. It was here that Pearson demonstrated his capacity of delegating intelligently. As political historian Penny Bryden proves, Pearson deserves credit for bringing into the Ottawa orbit a number of progressive social policy planners and letting them develop public support for their ideas against the opposition of the old guard of Mackenzie King and St Laurent Liberals. Once faced with implementing controversial social programs as prime minster, however, his determination often faltered in the face of provincial or political opposition. Walter Gordon was hung out to dry when he would not let go of his fixation on curbing foreign investment, while Medicare nearly died a premature death induced by Pearson's hesitation and procrastination. As Greg Donaghy's essay reveals, Pearson's unsteady support for political friends and allies was also obvious in the arena of international relations. A Nobel prize winner and father of a distinctive Canadian style of diplomacy, Pearson occasionally interfered in the domain of his friend and rival, external affairs minister Paul Martin Sr. When Martin wanted to develop an independent Canadian policy in Asia, Pearson stalled. Grasping the reality of Canada's international position, he did not want to condemn American policy in public, even though such a gesture would have been tremendously popular in Cabinet, and indeed in the entire country. If a moderate and at times ambiguous posture defined this unlikely gladiator, the book's contributors find many Pearsonian legacies in present-day Canada. He shaped the social programs that are now failing, tried to respond to the problems of a modernizing Quebec, and gave Canada its international peacekeeping persona while placing the country firmly into the context of the North American continent. In fact, one could argue that Pearson's premiership marked the beginning rather than the end of a political generation. Readers of this interesting volume will find much material for speculation on when and how the Pearsonian era will come to an end. (ANGELIKA SAUER) Patricia Morley. The Mountain Is Moving: Japanese Women's Lives University of British Columbia Press. xiv, 226. $39.95 Patricia Morley visited Japan as a tourist in 1961, returning many times to do research on the history of the women's movement there. Her information is based on articles in the English-language press; translations of Japanese writers of fiction and non-fiction, overwhelmingly women; writ- 472 letters in canada 1999 ing by English-language specialists on Japan; and numerous interviews with Japanese women, individually and in groups, in English or through an interpreter. She has done a remarkable job of integrating this material into a cohesive and convincing account of the women's movement, thèmountain' of the title. Morley traces the lives of Japanese women from the inception of the women's movement in the nineteenth century to the present day, and concludes that the movement is rapidly gaining momentum. In rural society women had been co-workers with men and as such enjoyed relative independence. The Meiji Restoration in the late nineteenth century entrenched the patriarchal family with the Emperor as the supreme father of the nation. Urbanization and militarism emphasized the role of women as wives and mothers, especially responsible for bearing and educating sons. The years following the Second World War concentrated on economic development and the primacy of men's employment, increasing the pressure on women to conform to what was considered an inferior but essential role in the home. To what extent are contemporary women seeking a more independent role for themselves? There is no doubt that profound changes have taken place in the lives of Japanese women since the end of the war. Many factors account for this, including a worldwide feminist movement, international women's conferences sponsored by the United Nations and including NGOs, inter-national exchanges, globalization of education, and travel abroad. Morley makes use of...