I was strongly influenced by mother. She gave me a view of a new age for women in the future. But in real life that way of living was not possible. In order to push my way through this reality, I had to grit my teeth and become a fighting woman. After college, I got a job as a TV reporter, but there was no real role for a woman. I gave up on that and returned to graduate school and embarked on the path of a scholar. It was also a time of great prejudice against unmarried women. Financial institutions treated them as irresponsible and wouldn’t lend them a penny. When I tried to borrow money to buy a house, my friends thought I was crazy. I had no choice but to choose a man to become my spouse so I could have a guarantor for the loan. My mother-in-law criticized me for having my husband change his name or take care of the baby at night. There were obstacles wherever I turned.
When my daughter, Michiru, was born, I took a year’s leave from the university. I devoted myself to raising her while looking out the small window at the view of the neighboring roof. I think half a year had passed when in April I asked a friend to look after her and went outside to view the cherry blossoms. I couldn’t believe how beautiful they looked to me. Michiru had piano and violin lessons from an early age, but decided they didn’t suit her and took up the electric guitar instead. She took to singing in a loud voice how “My mother was Hariti the Goddess of Children [a devil that stole and ate others’ children]!” And she was writing books extolling being single!
It’s a new world now. True, men over 40 still don’t understand the concept of equality. Corporate traditions still come first: companies refuse to give men parental leave, for example, preventing them from helping raise children. In the Diet, I often feel that I am crying out in the wilderness. But look at my daughter. Michiru sings cheerfully onstage in one of her songs that politicians are corrupt. An age in which she can freely sing such songs did not suddenly appear out of nowhere. It is the result of the hard-fought battles of so many women like myself and her grandmother. We should have this generation’s respect.
