Post #2

Why is Tsurumi’s argument about the importance of Japanese women’s labor power to nation-building an important intervention to week 1’s theorizations of nationalism? On the flip side, what experiences might focusing too much on this point occlude?

Unlike other nations whose developments and national structure were built with men’s words with the explicit thought of only men, Japan’s Meiji Civic Codes created a different gender structure within the society. Tsurumi argues that the rise of Japan is tied to women’s effort despite the lack of equality. The Meiji Civic Codes still treated women as an inferior being, labeling women as ‘labor’, however, it also gave women some rights. This is especially important to those who have widowed or have been wronged in any sense by their significant other. In this case, compared to the arguments made of McClintock last week, women had a significant recognizable role to both the nation and their families which is acknowledged and maybe even created from these Civic Codes. They were expected to support the family financially, and in some cases could even become the head of household since women are recognized as ‘persons’ unlike other constitutions which omit the word women or she/her.

In response to the second question, I think my response above is proof of the hyper fixation of the women’s role. In doing so, we are forgetful of a main point of Tsurumi’s argument which is that women to this day are still not recognized as fully for their integral role in the development to the nation. This is in spite of the fact that many historians uncontestably agree to the notion of Meiji’s women’s influence during this time period. With this in mind, we can then focus further to the fact of how different the women’s experience was compared to the men within the nation. Going back to the first question, since the men’s and women’s experience were so different due to their different predetermined roles within their families and society, the theorization of nationalism built upon this imagined sense of a community based on common experiences would be completely wrong with regards to Japan. To this end, we must separate yet appreciate the women’s role within the growth of Japan while also acknowledging their different unrelatable experiences from this time which stemmed from Japanese societal unequal expectations and treatment of women.