ABSTRACT
This chapter examines how women attempted to live between cultures. There were two main types: women aged over 40 who had come to Britain because of personal crises, mainly concerned with work or family life, and who had a strong work ethic; and the younger generation who had come to Britain with better educational backgrounds and less out of personal crises. The banks needed Japanese women who were able to speak both Japanese and English, and who knew the Japanese work culture. At the time, the women had the illusion that if they worked hard, they would gain better opportunities. The chapter focuses on the cultural identities of locally hired Japanese women in the financial firms. Unlike the dominant stories of Japanese male managers of 'Japaneseness', these women had tried to escape from Japanese society, and had wanted to find new identities in another culture.
