Japanese Men with Asian Wives
In the study of unions between Japanese men with Asian wives, many scholars underscore a pattern of transnational hypergamy. These wives predominantly come from comparatively less economically-developed countries such as China and the Philippines. According to Nobue Suzuki (2007), Japanese media representations of men with Asian wives can be largely divided into two categories—the “hypermasculine” and the “emasculated.” As a result of Japan’s rapid postwar industrialization, “a widening income gap between urban and rural areas, and growing inequality within urban areas” emerged. This disparity affected the marriage prospects of Japanese men, as their ability to fulfill their expected “role as primary economic
…show more content…
This stereotype of Japanese-Filipina marriages, however, reinforced the negative image of these unions as relationships between "prostitutes" and "patrons.” With the growing visibility of Chinese prostitutes in Tokyo, as well as recent media reports on sex tourism in China, a similar but less-prevailing stereotype has developed for unions between Japanese men with Chinese women as well. Thus, Japanese men married to Asian women of lower economic standing are often depicted in the media as “immoral” and demonized for utilizing their economic advantage in seeking sexual …show more content…
The prolonged “bride famine” (yome kikin) (also known as “bride shortage” [yomebusoku] and “bride drought” [yome hideri]) had prompted local governments to bring in foreign brides from “poor, backward Asia.” Tomoko Nakamatsu (2005)’s examination of the media-constructed image of “marriages between disadvantaged “Asian” women and rural farmers” in Japan shows a consistent media reinforcement of “conventional gender roles in marriage,” as well as a heavy emphasis on the “relative affluence of Japan.” Within the discourse of “rural internationalization,” these Asian women were often “presented as assimilable,” and “their cultural similarities with Japanese and middle-class background” were stressed. At the same time, the rural Japanese men in question were often stigmatized as “[men] of lack” due to their inability to attract Japanese women and marry “normally.” These media representations of international marriage, instead of focusing on its “international” factor, reaffirmed the traditional “Japanese family” model in which men are expected to be breadwinners while women take on the role of dutiful wives and
Some were as young as fourteen while some were mothers who were forced to leave their child behind in Japan, but for these women the sacrifice will be worth it once they get to San Francisco. Yet, the women desired a better life separate from their past, but brought things that represent their culture desiring to continue the Buddha traditions in America; such as, their kimonos, calligraphy brushes, rice paper, tiny brass Buddha, fox god, dolls from their childhood, paper fans, and etc. (Otsuka, 2011, p. 9) A part of them wanted a better life full of respect, not only toward males but also toward them, and away from the fields, but wanted to continue the old traditions from their home land. These hopes of a grand new life was shattered when the boat arrived to America for none of the husbands were recognizable to any of the women. The pictures were false personas of a life that didn’t really exist for these men, and the men were twenty years older than their picture. All their hopes were destroyed that some wanted to go home even before getting off the boat, while others kept their chins up holding onto their hope that maybe something good will come from this marriage and walked off the boat (Otsuka, 2011, p.
In California, between 1850’s to the Chinese Exclusion Act, most of the Chinese women who came to San Francisco were either slaves or indentured. They were often lured, kidnapped or purchased and forced to work as prostitutes at the brothels which is run by secret society of the Tongs of San Francisco. Chinese prostitutes also were smuggled and had worked at the Chinatown brothels in the Comstock Mines in Nevada. Chinese prostitutes were commonly known as prostitutes of the lowest order. “Both outcast slatterns and Asian slaves stood at the edge of the irregular marketplace, far more socially stigmatized than ordinary prostitutes.”
Living on the border of California towns, brides are not welcome in the white communities. “We settled on the edges of their towns, when they would let us” (22-3). It puts a pressure on their geographic location and adds difficulty to be recognized and transform into their culture. From the beginning of time, women have been treated inferior to their male counterparts and this is a key picture as the brides in search for acceptance. The phrase “… when they would let us…” proved that gender and race prejudices have power to move them around. The brides learned to revolve their lives to find acceptance by the general society by playing the correct gender role of submissiveness. “Most of us on the boat were accomplished, and were sure we would make good wives. We knew how to cook and sew. We knew how to serve tea and arrange flowers and sit quietly on our flat wide feet for hours… A girl must blend into a room; she must be present without appearing to exist” (6-7). The geographical factor is not the only thing that created a culture distance. Japanese identities were rejected from white culture. Without identity, their husband and their community will never accept them;
Known for her work as a historian and rather outspoken political activist, Yamakawa Kikue was also the author of her book titled Women of the Mito Domain (p. xix). At the time she was writing this work, Yamakawa was under the surveillance of the Japanese government as the result of her and her husband’s work for the socialist and feminist movements in Japan (p. xx-xxi). But despite the restrictions she was undoubtedly required to abide by in order to produce this book, her work contains an air of commentary on the past and present political, social, and economic issues that had been plaguing the nation (p. xxi). This work is a piece that comments on the significance of women’s roles in history through the example of Yamakawa’s own family and
When an immigrant from a foreign land comes to America, immigrants hope to fulfill their golden dreams in the land of the free; however, as they quickly learn shortly after they arrive in America, their new lives are filled with hardships and disillusions. A picture bride, who arrives in America with a dream of living with a wealthy, successful, and handsome young man, is frequently disappointed to discover the realities such as the appearance and lifestyle of her future husband. When Hana first meets Taro, she discovers that “[Taro] no longer resemble[s] the early photo [his] parents sent [Hana]…he was already turning bald” (Uchida, 12). This shock of reality is not uncommon to picture brides, in fact, “many men in America send pictures to picture brides of themselves from when they were ten to twenty years younger…next to a beautiful car—owned by their boss” (Bunting, 1). Picture brides and immigrants arrive in America filled with hopes for a better life for themselves and their children and a wonderful new life in America. The shock and dissatisfaction immigrants and picture brides experience when they first arrive in America greatly contribute to their change in attitude from an optimistic mindset to a cowardly, hesitant behavior. Furthermore, picture brides quickly discover that their husbands were not wealthy business owners, as the men claimed in their letters, but their husbands were rather poor men, trying to scrape a living, and this reality check contributes further to immigrants’ hopeless outlook to their new life. Hana is stunne...
During the early 1900s there was a mass immigration movement of young Japanese women, these women were called “Japanese picture brides,” as they migrated from their home lands they came to America in the hopes that they would be coming here to begin a new life, with their new husbands, and be able to live comfortably enough to send money back home to their families in Japan. As these picture brides settled into their new American lives, they would soon realize the injustices and oppression they were now living amongst. Once they arrived here in America, their mental image of how life was supposed to be accruing soon came to a halt, when the men they thought they would be marrying only became a figure of their imagination and the lifestyle they thought they would be living hardly ever occurred in any of the arranged marriages. Even as women of this time era continuously faced hardships in their home life, there were many other social prejudices and oppression against the picture brides that they had to endure around the United States. As a picture bride, there were many social injustices they had to conform to in order to survive in their homes and in the towns that they lived in.
Warren Farrell is a well educated man who focuses his attention on gender. In his essay “Men as Success Objects,” he writes about gender roles in male-female relationships. He begins, “for thousands of years, marriages were about economic security and survival” (Farrell 185). The key word in that statement is were. This implies the fact that marriage has changed in the last century. He relates the fact that post 1950s, marriage was more about what the male and female were getting out of the relationship rather than just the security of being married. Divorce rates grew and added to the tension of which gender held the supremacy and which role the individuals were supposed to accept. “Inequality in the workplace” covered up all of the conflicts involved with the “inequality in the homeplace”(Farrell). Farrell brings to attention all ...
Schoenberg Nara, A surprising new look at arranged marriages, August 22, 2012, Tribune Newspapers, retrieved from: http://articles.chicagotribune.com
In addition, shortly thereafter, she and a small group of American business professionals left to Japan. The conflict between values became evident very early on when it was discovered that women in Japan were treated by locals as second-class citizens. The country values there were very different, and the women began almost immediately feeling alienated. The options ...
At one time men were expected to be loyal to their lord and women were supposed to be loyal to their husband and family. During this women were allowed to own property and even inherit family property. They were expected to control the household budget and household decisions to allow men to serve their lord. When World War II hit it marked a shift in thinking about gender roles. The Japanese society went into the past of loyalty and courage to promote war effort during this crucial time. This is when women’s duty became to only have children. Women were looked at as keepers of the nation’s household even though many women worked in factories. During this war many “unused” women were drafted to sexually service military men. Soldiers referred to these women as “hygienic public bathrooms” or even as “semen toilets.” Japan was influenced by China to take on the confucian ideals in society. Confucian society focuses on the family and the roles of the genders in the household. Men are the heads of the household; women are dependent on the men. Women were expected to marry the men their family set for them, produce kids, and oversee the house. Women became not able to own property and became “slaves” to men in every way possible. It is believed that women’s happiness in life is only to be found in marriage. In this society women were to be married between 22 through 27 and if this was not met you were considered
First, the lifestyle of the Japanese is very different to that of Americans. Whereas people in America generally spend lots of time with their families, the people of Japan typically only see each other at certain times such as meals or weekends. This is due to a heavy focus on business and work life, especially since seniority at a company determines your wages and potential for promotion (Huen 2). As part of the seniority aspect of work, many women are reluctant to have children as it forces them to take time away from work in order to have a baby and to raise the child. According to Huen, “The Japanese employment system thus offers workers something close to permanent job security if they are patient about advancement, with predictable pay increases, company housing and several kinds of fringe benefits, all in return for workers’ loyalty and commitment to the company”. This system causes many women not to want children until their careers are well on the way to becoming ...
Han, C. (2006). Being an Oriental, I Could Never Be Completely a Man: Gay Asian Men and the Intersection of Race, Gender, Sexuality, and Class. Race, Gender & Class. New Orleans: Jean Ait Belkhir, Race, Gender & Class Journal.
Marriage in Japan Why people get married? There would be many reasons; to save money, to escape from loneliness, to have a better life, and so on. But in most case people marry for love. Though it is almost always true, a married life is different between in the western culture and in Japan. A marriage in modern western culture is based on mutuality and companionship. In Western there is a tendency to be independent. Most college graduates live apart from their family and find an apartment near the working place. They have learned how to ¡°survive¡± in single and marriage is an optional. However, a person in Japan who graduates from a college and has a job still lives with one¡¯s family until one gets married, which means one keeps the parent-child relationship. Therefore it is hard for a Japanese man to learn to be independent. After he gets married, he now relies on his bride for having foods, doing laundry, and many other things. Takeo Doi explains it with the term of amae that means the seeking or causing of oneself to be loved, nurtured, and indulged. He says it is an active attempt to make oneself into a passive love object. One reason why a man continues depending on someone else is that he has been witnessed what his parents have been done and now he considers himself as a head of his own family. In case of woman, it is difficult to keep her job after the marriage, because she needs to take care of her child, which is considered to be a wife¡¯s job. She has to do everything else except making money for the family, which makes her dependent on her husband who has the economic power. However in western culture, it is natural for both partners to have their own jobs and to be responsible for every single household job after marriage. Until recently it has been true in Japan but now it is changing. More women have their jobs rather than prepare to be a bride after the graduate. They don¡¯t need to get married if they don¡¯t want to. It has also become common not to have many children and some couples don¡¯t have a child at all. A younger bride could decide to divorce her husband if she wants to because she has a chance to get an economic independence easily nowadays.
The predominant popularity of sex tourism in South East Asia led to many foreign tourist attractions to their countries. South East Asia, notably Thailand, Indonesia, Laos, and Cambodia all have notorious red light districts promoted in guidebooks as a tourist attraction. Thus, it is not uncommon to sight family groups shopping in the open-air market while sex workers actively drag passers-by into strip clubs and bars that offers sex services on the same street. This paper is concerned with sex tourism and the images that it constructs for particular South East Asian countries. Through this paper we also explore the major kinds of sex tourisms and touch upon the psychological process behind it. Proposed ideas of correcting the negative image of sex tourism are presented for countries that hope for such changes.
Have you ever heard the word ‘Enjo Kosai’? It means compensated dating, which is defined as men give money or luxury to attract women for companionship, some especially for sex. In 2008, an appalling new shocks all the Hong Kong people. Wong Ka-mui, a secondary student who did compensated dating, was killed and dismembered (Lo, 2008). This tragedy raised the concern of public to teenagers compensated dating, and citizens started to comprehend the severity of the issue.