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Article: Mrs. Kaifu's open house. (the role of women in Japanese society and politics)
- Article from:
- The Economist (US)
- Article date:
- September 30, 1989
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1989 Economist Newspaper Ltd. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Mrs Kaifu's open house
POLITICAL wives get a rough ride in Japan. Mrs Sosuke Uno, wife to the mid-summer prime minister, suffered the daily humiliation of reading in the newspapers of her husband's many extramarital pecadillos. Her reaction was not to put arsenic in his rice-balls, as other women might have done, but to think first of saving the July upper-house election for the ruling Liberal Democratic party. She went on television, apologising to a bemused public for her husband's conduct, but failed to save his job.
The wife of Mr Toshiki Kaifu, the latest prime minister, rose above an early attempt by a magazine to smear him about his sex life. On ...