One third of Japan's women workers are 'office ladies' - low status, low security secretaries, who are trained at Junior Colleges. The author, who taught at such a College, discusses life there, and their cultural and sociopolitical role.

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