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182 7 Selves Centered on Self Young Single Women In 1993 Suzuki-san, a 32-year-old single Tokyo woman, drove her flashy sports car to my small hotel. Her deep tan, gold jewelry and casual, highquality clothing heralded her as one of the so-called “single aristocrats.” Suzuki-san was eager to talk about her off-work life. I get off at 5 o’clock and take cooking class, flower designing, and English, or go to a sports club. Otherwise I meet with my friends or watch TV with my mother at home. On weekends or vacations, I go skiing or diving. I’ve been scuba diving for ten years. I go to Okinawa or somewhere every year for about three weeks, with friends, or by myself. It costs $80 a day, so it takes a lot of money. Sometimes I just travel, like to London, Singapore, Saipan, and Thailand. A junior college graduate, Suzuki-san made $2,600 a month plus bonuses as a teacher at a private kindergarten, and spent $350 a month on entertainment and clothes.1 She lived in a high-class suburb with her widowed mother to whom she paid $500 a month rent. When I asked her if she thought young women were changing Japanese society, she answered, “No, we women are not so strong as to change society.” In one way, she was right—the general structure of corporate society, which required men to work long hours and women to stay on the margins of work (presumably so they could be mothers) continued. Suzuki-san criticized both sides of the equation: Men work so hard and are stuffed full of work. They don’t meet their friends like women do. Japan is rich, but hung up on proving skill. . . . Women just rest their hips for awhile [working for a few years], or they work a long time but aren’t responsible. Me too—I get a salary and then I am free after 5. Women need to expand their information and knowledge. Selves Centered on Self 183 But in another sense women were changing society. Young women made a myriad of what they saw as personal choices: to not marry, but to break up with a boyfriend; to travel, or to invest themselves more fully in work—choices that as a whole made statements about increased control over their own actions, identities, marriage relationships, and reproductive choices. They were bidding for stronger “subjective identities” than their mothers had had, and not worrying as much about the risks of the gamble (AMPO 1996, 16). Young women made their choices, however, with a sense of ambiguity, amidst personal tensions and confusions. The young women featured in this chapter had gone to school at places not dissimilar to Second High School, where respect and discipline reigned and spontaneity was created backstage. They had been well socialized into Japanese virtues of compassion , cooperation, and hard work, in institutions characterized by strong interdependent relations with people above, below, and beside them (McVeigh 1998). But they were part of a new generation that had been indulged with peace, education, affluence, and only two children per family. They were not shy in using their money and time to follow their individual whims. This combination left Suzuki-san unsure about work, residence, and marriage: I’d like to try living alone, but will stay with my mother until my brother returns from New York. I have never wanted to marry much. I am laid-back about it, but my mother pressures me to marry, so I get introduced to people. If I marry, I want someone who is just right for me and understands my moods—someone who isn’t just working in a straight line. But it’s hard to meet men. My mother still doesn’t want me to stay out really late or overnight. If I remain single, I would want to live in a cool way. I would want to change my life—do welfare work or color design. Maybe I don’t have that kind of courage. The kindergarten work is fulfilling because I keep learning, but it’s a narrow world with only women. The kids’ parents think of me as immature because I don’t have children. Suzuki-san had built an enjoyable, relaxed single life within the bounds of her mother and work, but for all her money and time to enjoy life, she was not a young woman unanchored from local...

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