Women on the Verge: Japanese Women, Western Dreams

by Karen Kelsky

Book Overview

Over the past few decades, many young Japanese women have emerged as Japan's most enthusiastic "internationalists," investing in study or work abroad, or in romance with Western men as opportunities to circumvent what they consider their country's oppressive corporate and family structures. Drawing on a rich supply of autobiographical narratives, as well as literary and cultural texts, Karen Kelsky situates this phenomenon against a backdrop of profound social change in Japan and within an intricate network of larger global forces.
In exploring the promises, limitations, and contradictions of these "occidental longings," Women on the Verge exposes the racial and erotic politics of transnational mobility. Kelsky shows how female cosmopolitanism recontextualizes the well-known Western male romance with the Orient: Japanese women are now the agents, narrating their own desires for the "modern" West in ways that seem to defy Japanese nationalism as well as long-standing relations of power not only between men and women but between Japan and the West. While transnational movement is not available to all Japanese women, Kelsky shows that the desire for the foreign permeates many Japanese women's lives. She also reveals how this feminine allegiance to the West-and particularly to white men-can impose its own unanticipated hegemonies of race, sexuality, and capital.
Combining ethnography and literary analysis, and bridging anthropology and cultural studies, Women on the Verge will also appeal to students and scholars of Japan studies, feminism, and global culture.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 082232816X
• ISBN13: 9780822328162
• Release Date: November 2001
• Publisher: Duke University Press
• Length: 312 Pages
• Weight: 1.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.0" x 8.7"

Customer Reviews

People that don't know anything about Asia should abstain their opinions

I was born in Asia, and I've lived in Asia for the majority of my life, and I still go there every year. Everything said in this book is true. Yes, the truth is offensive and ugly, but deal with it.

Women on the Verge: Japanese Women, Western Dreams (Asia-Pac

OF course truth hurts for these white men and their "asian" love and intrests.Only these white men would be upset at this book, but yet same white men who don't disaccount Amy Tan BS writings about chinese culture and asian men. Second its quite refreshing to see other side of an obvious one- sided views that can be seen in visual media( asian female anchor), business advertisments( asian), and Movies( asian stereotypical roles). This also has nothing to so with submissive demeanor but that White man protrayal is key to fair, racism-free, and happiness for asian american woman in USA. It has nothing to do with social economics but it may be the case in some instances due to green cards, money( since White men are always boss/management positions/face less racial discrimnation in work force), or WHITE WASHING of beauty standards in this country

Stunning example of contemporary cultural anthropology.

This is really a remarkable work. While most will react to the salacious elements of the book as well as the politics of race, gender, and nation, this book's major contribution is in putting into practice various and sometimes disparate innovations in cultural studies, ethnography, gender studies, Asian studies, transnational studies (just to name a few) to bear on a contemporary social phenomena. Kelsey's genius is grounded in her ability to patch and borrow from wide-ranging academic and popular discourses to both shed light on the topic of her study while simultaneously reflect back on how her findings mesh with theory and knowledge. Her ability to resist theoretical polemics and to synthesize such a wide-ranging literature is simply remarkable as is her ability to balance theory with ethnography. Another success of the book is in the writing. I have never read a social science work that so deserves the term "luminous" as this one. The beauty of the prose is stunning, and the book reads more like a work of modern literature than a serious ethnography. Kelsky's skills as a writer contribute enormously to an academic work that is free of obfuscating jargons and other perils of academic self-indulgences. Some of the high priests of contemporary cultural anthropology (Geertz, Clifford, Marcus, etc.) could learn from Kelsky the importance of humility and sensitivity to the "object" one's study, the benefits of interdisciplinarity and non-traditional disciplines (such as women's studies/ethnic studies), and writing for clarity and accessibility.Frankly, as an Asian male, the book was a bit hard to swallow. But, I'll get over it.

excellent niche study

As a 'veteran' of the American and 'gaijin' expat scene in Tokyo and a frequent traveller to Japan, I was very interested in finding out about what this book had to offer. Karen Kelsky does an excellent job in succinctly summing up the societal pressures and current trends in Japanese society that are swiftly and irrevocably changing the country.In particular, she addresses the long-standing adoration of western images and culture, particularly by young Japanese women. This takes place as an 'eroticization' of the west as embodied by the western/caucasian male, who serves to function as the symbol of an enlightened, 'victorious' culture to serve in place of/liberate from the vanquished, sexist, Japanese male-dominated old world culture of Japan. The resulting dynamics between these women and the foreigners that they meet make quite an interesting, if controversial subject. If I hadn't seen so much of it for myself when I was in Japan, I guess even I would be initially skeptical of the veracity of her claims. But 'Women on the Verge' is almost shockingly right-on-the-mark, and I consider this book to be a highly accurate, compelling account of one of the most major and least talked-about social movements occuring in Japan today.It is never easy or pleasant to question or have questioned one's deepest, most 'intimate desires', and Kelsky poignantly describes much of the opposition and flak that she went through in researching and interviewing for this book. But after having effectively laid the backdrop of this 'eroticization' and its effects on a widespread social level, Kelsky's revealing the rose-colored glasses worn by the individual participants in this pageant is even more effective.This is an important book for all those interested in modern Japanese culture and society. For those who have lived in Japan in recent years, once you have read 'Women on the Verge', you will know what I mean.