A best seller in Japan is Mariko Bando’s “The Dignity of Women” (じょせいのひんかく), which raises important questions about national and gender identities. Millions of Japanese have bought her book full of advice to young Japanese career women, such as speaking in a refined manner, being punctual, and not accepting free tissues offered outside the train stations. Bando rightly declares, “Women’s dignity is the dignity of human beings.” I am still waiting for the English version to better effect my own personal transformation, although there are deals to take the book to South Korea and Taiwan.
Shu claims there’d be no interest in this book in the U.S. since no one there is interested in dignity and public space. Responses?
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Tokyo Moe 
Sadly, I think Shu is right but we could start a new trend.
That is fascinating Jared and an interesting coincidence for me. I had an Aha! moment about emphasizing courtesy and dignity as meta-themes (if that is a word) for my book on texting. As wealth starts to decline in the US and the illusion of entitlement that goes along with it, I bet that a renewed interest in etiquette, composure and dignity will start popping up.
That’s an interesting arguement. I don’t think that as a whole the US is interested in how they come off but I think it’s vital for women because they are bounded by many more social stigmas/rules/whatnot.