2010.07.08

Today, a Thursday, we had a panel discussion with two different groups of women over various issues that specifically affect them. In particular, the situation of a working mother has been traditionally a less frequent occurrence, and generally the mother of the family will be spending much of her time and energy at home, dealing with the many typical domestic chores and then focus on the raising of the children. Because of the change in the economic situation, it is becoming more common for a woman who has become a mother to join or go back to the workforce. Indeed many will stay working after marrying. They are only offered so much motherhood leave from work, and there is great pressure to continue. It has made changes in some of the traditional chores, but it is also still unique to the individuals in the house. That is to say, it still sounds like the woman is doing much of the work. Yet there are improvements. Some fathers do cook, and do clean (though perhaps they don't clean quite as well as the mother...), and there is more balance than ever before in that realm. It still sounds like the bathroom is not usually the job of choice for the husband. Men are picking up more of the child-rearing responsibilities (one mother suggested that she let her husband take the kids for the weekend walks, and that getting up later in the day than is typical is her preferred manner). In these more rushed times breakfasts are simpler (sometimes coffee, a roll, yogurt, as an example). Still getting to the child care (or school) on time to pick up their child seems to be what the mothers are doing. And it is expensive living these days. Holidays are being spent closer to home, there might not be much extra money or energy to do the special trips. Some people are still living with their older parent or parents, and this has its plus and negative aspects. Of course each family is unique. You have more traditional or conservative husbands that don't quite see the difference, and still have huge expectations about what the role of their wife should be. The question of young Japanese women waiting to get married or choosing not to get married early (or at all) came up. The stigma of the 'birthday cake' age of 26 seems to be dying out, and in our first panel all the women there were 40-44 years of age, and many were still starting families, and or still had young children. I can relate to some of these concerns as my mother was 40 when she had me, and then there was my younger sister a year later (and three before me!). These are thorny problems. I am pleased to say I even understood a lot of it, which was a pleasure. I also have to add that it was burned into me when I was taught Japanese to never ask personal questions as that is probing to closely to what the individual keeps close to themselves, and so I found this style of round table discussion to be quite edifying. Thank you all for the experience. In the afternoon we had a full presentation on manga which has a history that started for this publishing company in 1945, and has run the route since, staying competitive. We started with Doraemon, who I have seen over the years but I never quite knew what the character was about. It is a futuristic cat who has a pouch with trick gizmos he can pull out when needed to fix or help a situation. I can't explain the staying power of the character anymore than I can explain why I like coca cola. I grew up with it, and it remains comfortable. I suspect it fills the role of that imaginary friend who can help you out when you are in need. Heck, I still like Superman. It's like finding those old baseball cards one collected in a box in a closet. You pull it out and there is your bit of comfort and nostalgia. The original creator of Doraemon is no longer alive, but the character lives on in the art of a young woman I believe in her twenties, and there even was a movie made of not too long ago. Yet, Doraemon was just part of the picture. There are 65 years of publishing that span through the genres of sports, young love, old love, suspense, stories for elementary school children, samurai epics, historical, scary, futuristic, corporation takeovers, and lest we forget, there is also room for a bit more intimate and graphic representation. He referred to a trend of readers that has grown recently, and that is for young ladies from 35-45. Why are manga popular? Well, they catch on some place stronger than others. Europe (Germany and France, among others), Korea, the market in China has opened up, and more. America is a little behind. I have had students who love manga, and one of them now contributes to the New Yorker illustrations. He attributes what skill he has to the careful study of how any given panel in a story from a manga is so carefully crafted. They aren't just funny pictures, but an art form that has its roots back in woodblock printing (Shades of Hokusai!), and how about before him? But why not more Americans? The gentleman once visited the US at a convention in San Francisco, and noticed these kids on bikes with plenty of things to do and plenty of places to go to, and that maybe the style of life in the U.S. just wasn't needing manga. In Japan there is a great deal of "Hurry up and Wait!" There are long rides on a boring subway or train, routine trips down to the same shop near your home. Time to sit back and loosen your mind while you read. Life could be worse you know.