


Copyright 1995 ABC-CLIO. This review was taken from the ABC-CLIO Video Rating Guide for Libraries on CD-ROM, a 5-year compilation of over 8900 video titles and reviews, 1990-1994. For information regarding order VRGL CD-ROM, contact: ABC-CLIO, P.O. Box 1911, Santa Barbara, CA 93116-1911; 805-968-1911
This following text has been included in the UCB Media Resources Center Web site with the kind permission of the publishers.

This video is full of surprises. I expected a quiet piece on
Japanese women but was brightly awakened to the changes taking
place across generational lines among Japanese females. The story
line centers around Kazuko Hohki, a young singer and member of
the contemporary rock group the "Frank Chickens." Kazuko has come
home to marry her English lover of 10 years. The marriage is to
please Kazuko's mother, a preacher in the House of Development.
Although the couple did not feel it was necessary to marry, they
caved in to her mother's traditional values.
The video is bright, and the sequences of the Frank Chickens
are quite entertaining. Various small groups of women speak about
their marriages, their druthers if they had never married, and
their desires for freedom from their present marriages. One is
brought to grips with the conflicts and emotions of generations
of women who entered into marriages without love because it was
arranged or expected by parents. The conversations are direct,
poignant, and moving.
The father in the story is portrayed in a sad fashion. He is
displaced in his own home by his wife's church group - mostly
women - which comes to meet there daily. He is retired and seems
tired. He hides in his own home, and one wonders how Japanese
males cope with all the desire for freedom among the females.
Misleading images of young executives sleeping on the commuter
train do not explain that Japanese male office employees often
work 100 hours a week because their companies expect it. No
wonder they sleep on the train! But, sadly, the video portrays
the sleeping executives as merely listless.
This is an educational work that is entertaining and thought
provoking. Recommended for public and academic libraries where
modern foreign cultures are studied.
The Good Wife of Tokyo

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