One third of the Japanese female workforce are "office ladies" and their training takes place at the many women's colleges in Japan. Brian J McVeigh draws on his teaching experiences at one such institution, Takasu International College, to examine the cultural processes at work in the education of women. Life in a Japanese Women's College explores the educational philosophy of the college which aims to produce "ladylike" women. The processes utilized in this aim include: careful management of the body; "Japaneseness"; "internationalism"; and well-orchestrated school functions. This analysis of the college illustrates how the students are prepared for their future dual roles of employees and mothers. It sheds light on broader issues, demonstrating how women's junior college is part of a complex socioeconomic order.

Brian J McVeigh is Associate Professor, Toyo Gakuen University, Tokyo

1. Introduction: Purposes, Premises, and Problems 2. Mental Acts as Social Behaviour: Reuniting Body, Mind and Practice 3. The Ethnomorality of Etiquette: The Cultural Context of Takasu International College 4. Cultivating 'Ladylike' and 'International' Women at Takasu 5. Takasu as an Institution 6. Ceremonies of Culture in a Culture of Ceremony 7. Becoming an 'Office Lady': Engendering Gender through the Body 8. Students: The Politics of Shyness and Schooling 9. Leaving College Life and Entering the Adult World 10. Conclusion: Socialization, Gender, Schooling and the State Bibliography Index