Japanese Girls and Women Revised and Enlarged Edition

About this book

Alice M. Bacon’s Japanese Girls and Women is a revised and enlarged study of women’s roles in Meiji‑era Japan, organized into thirteen detailed chapters that move from childhood through marriage, court life, and even the lives of samurai and peasant women. The book opens with a meticulous preface explaining the author’s motivation, to fill the gap left by earlier travelers who overlooked Japanese women, and the scholarly apparatus that supports the text: footnotes, asterisked references to an extensive appendix, and a new chapter “Within the Home” that completes the portrait of domestic life. The first chapter already immerses the reader in the customs surrounding a newborn’s arrival, describing the flurry of gifts, the ceremonial naming, and the miya‑mairi shrine visit, all presented with precise cultural detail and illustrative footnotes.

Written in the turn‑of‑the‑century American travel‑essay tradition, Bacon’s voice combines earnest observation with a genteel, almost didactic tone. Her prose is clear, richly descriptive, and peppered with comparative remarks that assume a Western readership unfamiliar with Japanese etiquette. Readers who enjoy scholarly yet accessible cultural histories, particularly those interested in gender studies, Japanese social customs, or the comparative anthropology of the late‑19th‑century, will find this work both informative and engaging.