... The persisting myths about women is just one dimension of the general inadequacy of information Westerners have about Japan... Perhaps the most fascinating [trend] is the way Japanese women themselves have been changing, winning an astonishing degree of freedom and independence quietly and unobtrusively, largely without the fanfare of an organized women's movement or overt feminism... The core of this backstage revolution is the generation born after the end of World War 2, between 1946 and 1955, mainly those who are college-educated and live in urban areas. Educated under the postwar democratic constitution in predominantly co-educational institutions, these women, it can be argued, have set the stage virtually to their own liking.

One of the main issues for women is equality... In terms of rights, Japanese women believe, as do their American counterparts, in equal pay for equal work, equal opportunity, and so on. What appears to be different is their concepts of equality, in that in Japan equality is not sought on principle. Part-time working women and full-time housewives in particular consider themselves equal to their professionally or vocationally employed husbands, at least as far as their status in the household is concerned.

Not only do women see themselves as equals to their husbands but their husbands -willingly admit their dependence on women. These women, who control the household purse strings see themselves as valued with high self-esteem because the management of the family has always been considered central to stability and prosperity in Japanese society. Contrary to the image of subjugation outsiders seem to associate with Japanese women, the latter often believe it is they who draw the boundaries within which their husbands move, not the other way around.

The lives and attitudes of Japanese women have undergone tremendous changes in the past 15 years. The younger generations enjoy unprecedented freedom and diversified opinions, and the relationship between the sexes is described by some as dansei joi, josei yui(men superior, woman dominant). But this is nothing new.

... Fifteen years ago, for example, a typical 35-year-old woman was most likely a professional housewife with two children who devoted her life to serving the needs of husband and children. On the basis of the fixed set of roles (e.g. shipkeeper's wife, schoolteacher, mother) she assumed, each of which was clearly and narrowly defined, it was relatively easy to visualize how she lived. Today it is not so easy. Every role (even that of wife and mother) is much more loosely defined. She is equally likely to be single, married, living with a partner, or divorced; to have children or be childless; to be working part- or full-time. And she is as likely to be a person who seeks self-fulfillment and devotes herself to personal goals as an "education mama," who pursues vicarious fulfillment through the accomplishments of her children.

... What ultimately provided Japanese women with increased options, ironically, was their position outside mainstream of society. They have not occupied positions of significance in policy-making and business and their existence and voices have been pretty much ignored by men in formal areas, but there has been some advantage in this state of "inequality." It has exempted women from having to fit into the frameworks set down by the public or private organizations (corporations) of society and has allowed them the margin of freedom to explore their individuality in ways not permitted to men... Women are the intellectual and artistic upstarts of society today, exploiting new endeavors and expressing their raw energies in diverse forms, while men remain largely confined to the old established norms and codes of traditional hierarchical society. Mature women are going back to school, entering universities and graduate schools; they are going to work for international organizations like the United Nations, leaving humdrum jobs to run for political office, and becoming successful as novelists, writers and poets (a count of recent literary prizes in Japan shows that a majority were won by women).