(^420) THE WEALTH AND POVERTY OF NATIONS
the executive branch. Again, Japan is not very different from other
countries.
What has this pragmatic, partial discrimination done to men? The
answer is mixed: Japanese men have enjoyed a sense of sexual
privilege and superiority, which sometimes emerges on jam-packed
subway trains, where anonymity protects.^43 On the other hand,
Japanese men help out in domains conventionally linked to women.
Here, at the very beginning of Tokugawa (1610), is a merchant
instructing his son on his duties:
With your own hands kindle the fire under the stove, for breakfast and
dinner, damping the embers afterwards.... Going out behind the house,
collect all the bits and pieces of rubbish: small lengths of rope should be cut
up for mixing in cement... fragments of wood or broken bamboo, even as
small as half an inch, should be stored, cleaned, and used as fuel for watch-
fires... when buying things for the first time ... go out and buy for your
self. Buy at the cheapest rates, and make careful note of the prices.
Afterwards... you will know whether the articles [the servant] brings are
too expensive or not.... Housekeeping may be said to be a matter of fire
wood, charcoal, and oil.... No matter what his calling, if a man does not
take these troubles upon himself, he can never run a household success
fully.^44
"No matter what his calling ..." This was a merchant talking,
giving expression to antique, primary virtues. Japanese male
children, in other words, were spoiled and yet not spoiled.
Economic development and political transformation have changed
the details, but the values remain. Schooling today is highly
competitive; examinations are scenes of combat. As cities have
grown, commuting to work is a long travail. Fathers see much less of
home and children, but that has only enhanced the role and
responsibilities of women. Also soured many of them on the alleged
joys of marriage. Women now attend universities with the men, get
advanced degrees, seek executive careers. They still bump against the
glass ceiling, and they remain shy, even tongue-tied, in the presence
of men. But many are ready to give up on family to concentrate on
career. In a society where male commuters have litde time for wife
and children, single women do not want for attention. Muslims
would say, I told you so.
When I visited Japan in 1991 and was received to dinner, the
hostess, if grandmotherly, would decline to dine with the men, but
she served. If younger, she ate with us, and the children too. In an
nora
(Nora)
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