ABSTRACT
Two— thirds of all American women work, as do half the mothers of children six years old and under. To understand the cultural lens through which people look at working mothers, advice books are a good place to begin. The best—selling advice books represent a cultural vote. Japanese advice books are predominantly books of morality and manners. Japanese advice books focus relatively more on outer comportment, less on inner feelings, though sometimes they argue that outer behavior expresses the inner self. The Japanese advice books advance virtues of beauty, motherliness and deference, virtues that would make an exhausted working mother feel guilty. The modern Japanese advice books focus on women's independence and on what stands in the way of it Japanese culture. Best—selling modern American advice books welcome the working mother. The Japanese books focus relatively more on collective life — rites, rituals — American books, on the individuals person.
