Philippine E-Journals

The Kimono on Filipino Women

Maximo M. Kalaw

Discipline: History, Philippine History

 

Abstract:

A noted Japanese, Dr. N. Matsunami, for a time Exchange Professor to the University of the Philippines, started a lecture on Japanese women at Villamor Hall, Manila, several years ago by showing a comic-sheet, "Bringing Up Father," from a local newspaper. It showed the embittered, much-frustrated Jiggs, fuming behind an unlit cigar, swearing he would start a domestic crusade against the abuses on the rights of men as masters of the house - only to be stopped, lashed and humbled by an unflinching tirade from Maggie. ''To you," the Professor said, "this is a joke. To the Japanese it is no joke, for it has no meaning. The husband in Japan is always the master of the house; the wife can never be the master."