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The Secrets of Mariko is a remarkably revealing and intimate look at the life of an ordinary Japanese woman at the close of the twentieth century. Mariko and her husband, three children, and aged parents live in a small house in Tokyo. It is a family typical of hundreds of thousands of others in Japan. Mariko is a part-time meter reader and a very full-time wife, mother, and daughter.
She spends her days cooking, keeping house, taking care of the children and her parents, working at her job, and stealing an afternoon now and then for herself. Through Mariko we gain a rare insight into the culture of Japan and begin to understand the obligations and desires that drive Japanese society.
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Like many Japanese, Mariko knew very few Westerners, and was instinctively reserved with anyone outside the family circle. But somehow she broke through her sense of privacy and let Elisabeth Bumiller, a reporter for The Washington Post, into her life for more than a year. Over time, as they grew to know each other, Mariko gradually revealed her secrets. Most are small but deeply personal, and together they yield a nuanced portrait of a life.
The Secrets of Mariko speaks eloquently of what it means to be Japanese, and to be an ordinary woman confronting the choices we all must face.
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Previews available in: English
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1
The Secrets of Mariko: A Year in the Life of a Japanese Woman and Her Family
October 29, 1996, Vintage
Paperback
in English
0679772626 9780679772620
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2
The secrets of Mariko: a year in the life of a Japanese woman and her family
1995, Times Books
in English
- 1st ed.
081292603X 9780812926033
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3 |
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Book Details
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"When I first heard the name Mariko, it sounded elegant and a little musical, nothing more."
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- Created April 29, 2008
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December 17, 2022 | Edited by ImportBot | import existing book |
December 9, 2022 | Edited by ImportBot | import existing book |
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August 6, 2010 | Edited by IdentifierBot | added LibraryThing ID |
April 29, 2008 | Created by an anonymous user | Imported from amazon.com record |