ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews Japanese professional women find their own path in order to evade the many career traps along the way and, more often than not, they have to swim against the stream. It demonstrates a particular group of Japanese women in the last thirty-odd years have been struggling to come to terms with their newfound freedom to determine the trajectory of their private and professional lives. The chapter represents the success stories of some Japanese women who were able to beat the odds and swim against the stream, such as Otsuka-san and Kashima-san. Kashima-san plans to work for the same company until retirement and then engage in philanthropic work. Japanese career women are competing with deeply entrenched values of motherhood and caretaking, still present in contemporary Japan. Women could contribute to that new nation by taking a more active role in child rearing, and through engaging in patriotic activities and by contributing to the family's income.
