单项选择题
| Divorces in Japan have more than
doubled, from just over 95 000 in 1970 to 206 955 in 1996, according to health
ministry statistics. One in three Japanese marriages now ends in
divorce. Atsuko Okano was in one of those failed marriages. Three years ago, she found herself alone in her 30s, with children to raise and a future full of question marks and social shame. But she al so saw an opening — and became a consultant helping people like herself. "My husband was cheating on me," she recalls. "I did everything to bring him back to me but it didn’t work, so I dumped him." Such frankness is a major characteristic of Japan’s recently divorced — and a striking break with the past. Divorced people — particularly women—have long been looked down upon in Japan, where self-sacrifice and family stability are regarded ms ideals. In the past, bored housewives remained bored. Philandering(逢场作戏) husbands philandered without being blamed. The security of the family unit was the most important thing. Now, young Japanese are increasingly choosing satisfaction in life over the demands of tradition, and more women are financially independent. As a result, Japanese divorce rates’ are flying. Experts attribute this to the erosion of a long-standing double standard that granted divorced men respectability, but branded(打……标记) divorced women as damaged goods. Over the past decade, growing numbers of highly educated and successful professional women have challenged that assumption by turning their backs on unhappy marriages and disregarding the taboo(禁忌) of divorce. The majority of divorce proceedings now are initiated by women. |