In Japan as in the United States; family farming is on the wane; increasingly rejected by the younger generation in favor of more promising economic pursuits and more sophisticated comforts. Yet for centuries past; the village and the family farm have constituted the world of the vast majority of Japanese women; as of Japanese men. The dramatic economic and demographic developments of the past two decades have orced extensive changes in the lives of Japanese farm women; many of hwom have been left virtually in charge of their family farms.This book is a study of Japanese farm women’s lives in the present era: its central figure is 42-year-old Haruko; a complex; vibrant woman who both exemplifies and makes a mockery of the stereotype of Japanese women. Through Haruko we learn the work routine; family relationships; and social life of the women who are the mainstay of Japanese agriculture. Other women from Haruko’s village also figure in the story; and the author’s observations of them; based largely on a six-month stay with Haruko and her family in 1974-75; are supplemented with data from questionnaires and personal interviews.An epilogue recounts the author’s return to Haruko’s village in 1982 and describes the changes that have occurred since 1975 in the lives of Haruko’s family and other village women. The book is illustrated with photographs.
#1375211 in Books University of Nebraska Press 1996-08-01Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 7.99 x .39 x 5.00l; .42 #File Name: 0803292457148 pages
Review
17 of 19 people found the following review helpful. An Invaluable ReferenceBy I. LindermanThis is Richard Levy's 1995 translation of Segel's 1926 abbreviated version of his original (1924) longer; more scholarly work; The Protocols of the Elders of Zion; Critically Illuminated. It is a point-by-point refutation of this fraudulent document; and an indispensable reference. It is indexed; and includes a chronology of the hoax; as well as an updated bibliography. This particular edition includes an introduction by translator Richard S. Levy that would be worth a volume of its own. The following is based on that introduction.While Segel's work is authoritative; Levy recognizes that logical; scholarly examination of this fraud has had little effect:"The patent absurdity of the [Protocols] has had little or no bearing on its credibility for a large and varied public. ... devastating and authoritative judgments have failed to put an end to the book."Perhaps the best example of Levy's point is Hitler's comment in Mein Kampf that Segel denying "the truth of the Protocols was the best proof of their authority." This was precisely argument employed to such effect in 1692 Salem: To doubt an accuser was to open oneself to accusation: Who but a member of the conspiracy denies it?As outlined in Festinger's 1956 study; When Prophecy Fails; and more recently; in Susan Clancy's Abducted: how people come to believe they were kidnapped by aliens; the allure of conspiracies is well-known: Readers are "invite[d] to join the elite of those in the know." Moreover; "the [Protocols of the Elders of Zion] addresses an audience not thought capable of sustained reasoning. ... For many; the least likely explanation of great events seems the best because it is also the most effortless." Segel's arguments are therefore inaccessible to many for precisely this reason.Would that the consequences of continued publication and belief in the Protocols were as benign as the copious literature on alien abduction and Doom's Day cults; but it is not. Levy sadly concludes:"In the world at large; beyond the reach of the Nazis; the Protocols helped render Jews ineligible for rescue by the great majority of their fellowmen."Words and ideas do have consequence.16 of 22 people found the following review helpful. The best book unmasking the 'Elders' textBy Seth J. FrantzmanTHis is one of the few books dedicated solely to exposing the hoax that is the 'Protocols of the Elders of Zion' text. This author shows definitevly how it was created by the Czars men to discredit Judaism and cause progroms against the powerful Jews of Moscow and Odessa.This book is an importnat book in the pnathyon of books that seek to explain anti-semitism. Recently the 'Elder' text has had a comback as it has been reprinted in its most viscous form; with no introduction explasining its fabircation; in Muslim countries like Egypt and Saudi and at least one un-truthful copy can be purchased on this website. Its sad to see these anti-semetic texts are still in circulation and widely beleived to be true by the ignorant and the hateful. This book helps unmask the ignorant and shed light on the fabrication that is the 'Elders' TextA good read; highly recommended.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Good overview of he whole sordid history of the lies ...By Lewis MeixlerGood overview of he whole sordid history of the lies about the Jews. I gave it to my nephew who had never heard of the Ptotocols.
