Passages To Modernity: Motherhood, Childhood, And Social Reform In Early Twentiethcentury Japan,Used

Contemporary Japanese Women Are Often Presented As Devoted Fulltime Wives And Mothers. At The Extreme, They Are Stereotyped As 'Education Mothers' (Kyoiku Mama), Completely Dedicated To The Academic Success Of Their Children. Children Of Working Mothers Are Pitied; Daycare Users, Both Children And Mothers, Are Faintly Disparaged For Their Inadequate Home Lives; Hired Babysitters Are Virtually Unknown. Yet Historical Evidence Reveals A Strikingly Different Picture Of Japanese Motherhood And Childcare At The Beginning Of The Twentieth Century. In Contrast To Today, Child Tending By Nonmaternal Caregivers Was Widely Accepted At All Levels Of Japanese Society. Daycare Centers Flourished, And There Was Virtually No Expectation Of Exclusive Maternal Care Of Children, Even Infants.The Patterns Of The Formation Of Modern Japanese Attitudes Toward Motherhood, Childhood, Childrearing, And Home Life Become Visible As This Study Traces The Early Twentiethcentury Rise Of Japanese Daycare Centers, Institutions Established By Middleclass Philanthropists And Reformers To Provide For The Physical Wellbeing And Mental And Moral Development Of Urban Lowerclass Preschool Children. Daycare Gained Broad Support In Turnofthecentury Japan For Several Reasons. For One, Daycare Did Not Clash With Widely Accepted Norms Of Child Care. A Second Factor Was The Perception Of Public And Private Policymakers That Daycare Held The Promise Of Social And National Progress Through Economic And Moral Betterment Of The Urban Lower Classes. Finally, Daycare Offered Working Mothers The Opportunity To Earn A Better Livelihood With Fewer Worries About Their Children. In Spite Of Emerging Notions That Total Devotion To Childrearing Was A Woman'S Highest Calling, Japanese Nationalism, A Signal Force In The Genesis Of The Modern Japanese State, Economy, And Middleclass Culture, Fed A Deep Wellspring Of Support For Daycare And Fostered Significant Reshaping Of Motherhood, Childhood, Home Life, And View Of The Urban Lower Classes.Passages To Modernity Is An Important And Original Contribution To Our Understanding Of The Institutional And Ideological Reach Of The Early Twentiethcentury State And The Contested Emergence Of A Striking New Discourse About Woman As Domestic Caregiver And Homemaker.