Gambling with Virtue: Japanese Women and the Search for Self in a Changing Nation

Part III. Glimpses into the ’90s: Independent Selves Supporting Family

III GLIMPSES INTO THE ’90s 125 Independent Selves Supporting Family Japan had new worries in the ’90s: domestic recession as economic growth slowed to a crawl, and population shifts as the number of elders grew and the number of children shrank. Talk of economic restructuring filled the air as first-rate banks and companies went into the red, long-term employees were laid off, and people with fewer assets suffered.1 The fertility rate hovered around 1.4 in the ’90s, one of the lowest in the world. In 1995 each person over 65 was supported by 5.8 people, but by 2050, this would decrease to 2 (Gaimushò 1997).2 Government bureaucrats painted a grim picture of the future with the number of workers down, savings down, supply down, wages down, demand down and “little spirit to challenge the unknown” (Keizai Kikakuchò 1992, 225, 307). As national discourses stirred up a feeling of crisis, both government officials and common folk felt a sense of fear for the nation and concern about women: How could the nation reign women in to serve national needs of child raising and elder care, yet keep them happy? These concerns set debates and uncertainties jangling in the Japanese theater. Companies waltzed middle-aged men off front stage as young men and women tried unsuccessfully to crawl onto front stage and those who made it boogied incessantly to keep their places. Middle-aged women danced furiously just out of reach of the stage spots, as young women created new dance steps, never minding the spots that swooped over them. A few young women with babies milled around the edges practicing a dance step now and then so they wouldn’t forget. Elders danced on side stages as long as they could, but finally fell into the arms of other elders or middle-aged women who ran over to them. Government bureaucrats and media agents watched intently from their side stages, which had grown larger over the years. They directed their spotlights here and 126 Glimpses into the ’90s there and wrote down dance steps, imitating and improving on them to sell them back to the people or to give dance lessons so that all the dancers would get the basic rhythm for the ’90s in Japan. Quick snapshots show elders becoming more independent, young mothers working, and young single women avoiding marriage and babies. In the northeast city, Hosoi-san of chapter 3 (who had given up her teaching to devote herself to her children) lived with her retired husband. They tried hard to be independent, she meeting with her friends and making meals, he teaching English to children, writing, and growing in devotion to a Shinto god. On holidays, they invited the families of their two sons for a big meal. One son had two small children, and his wife still worked in her government job; the Hosoi grandparents were not convinced that day care was a good idea, but they bit their tongues. Her neighbor, Yano-san (the poorer woman who had adopted a daughter in chapter 3) also lived independently with her husband. Her daughter had found a man to marry into the family—an uncommon feat for the ’90s—but her daughter and husband lived in a separate house across the street. The daughter had continued to work after high school, gaining a full-time clerical position at an insurance company. Grandma Yano cared for the first two children after her daughter’s maternity leaves, but by the third child grandma was tired and the boss’s tolerance was spent: the daughter quit work to care for children and parents. The Yano daughter introduced me to a woman in her late twenties who sold insurance at her company. In 1993 the young woman’s stories ranged from pride at competing successfully with men salesmen, to fatigue from entertainment of clients until 9 or 10 at night. She was fullup with work and uninterested in marriage. By 1998, fearful of the instability of the sales world, she had switched jobs to draw on her original training as a dental hygienist. Now in her mid-thirties, she was going at her own pace, learning the new job from her younger workmates, meeting with friends on weekends, and hoping that she would meet up with a man worth marrying. Across town, the hostess of the active housewives of chapter 3, who appreciated...