The Charlotte
Masami Tsubouchi, Curator at Hara Contemporary Art Museum
Hometown: Tokyo
Tell me about your background
I was born in Tokyo. I got my MA in art history from a private graduate school here.
What are you responsible for in your current position?
After having worked as a secretary at government offices and private companies, I went back to study and obtained my MA. Then I began to work at the Hara Museum of Contemporary Art. Currently I am a curator at the museum, taking part in organizing and planning exhibitions and events.
In your view, how has being a woman affected your career?
I believe being a woman has almost no effect on my current job. If I must say, being a woman allows more freedom to work, meaning we are free from certain pressures, as women are less interested in financial success or social status.
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What do you mean by that?
I suppose there are Japanese women who are interested in money and social status, but as women have been in the weaker position throughout history, I feel most of them are liberated from all the expectations and are able to work freely, not worrying too much about financial or social success. Therefore, they feel happier to be able to do anything they want to do the way they want to, rather than having social success or gaining honor. I may be the exception, but that’s how I feel.
How do you feel that being a working woman in Japan compares to the situation overseas?
From my experiences of living in the US, the UK and Japan, I gather working women in the field of art—where women have more career opportunities compared to other fields—can work actively and energetically.
The women in Sex and the City have such melodramatic love lives. Is that true for you, or for your friends or Japanese women in general?
Personally, the time spent with my family and friends is priceless. I hope for the happiness of those I encounter but am not really interested in how Japanese women in general spend their time.
What Tokyo hotspots can you recommend?
Of course, the Hara Museum! Also, I like shitamachi in general, which are not limited to the east side of Tokyo. To me, places that still retain a Showa-period ambience, or certain back alleys of Omotesando, Azabu or Jiyugaoka, can be categorized as shitamachi. There are so many kinds of people and a diversity of lifestyle. It is so fascinating and I never get bored of it.
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5 Comments
Although much of this interview is tolerable, the hotspots that she recommends are fairly inane. Body Shop?? Lush?? Those two companies have shops in any city around the world. There’s nothing at all to recommend that someone search them out when in Tokyo. I guarantee that you will find nothing different in Tokyo Lush/Body Shop than Minneapolis Lush/Body Shop or Anytown Lush/Body Shop. What a silly recommendation.
Kinokuniya is fine but is nothing special. It’s only claim to fame is really that there are no bookshops in Tokyo that can compete with its English book selection. Forget about the prices, you’re better off using Amazon.
Her restaurant suggestion is telling. It’s not even a Japanese cafe. A vegan cafe, serving some sort of fusion/California style food? Huh. Most native Japanese don’t even know what a vegan is. She could have recommended something more interesting, even more Japanese, but perhaps she doesn’t know of such places.
In short, her comments about Tokyo were pretty inane; the rest of it was readable. Sorry, but I don’t think you’ve really spent enough time in Tokyo to make any interesting recommendations. In spite of your ethnicity, you missed the mark.
Miss Azuma,
“Japanese women in my generation know how to enjoy life, but when it comes to relationships with men, they tend to take on a more traditional or conservative stance. They don’t tend to have this liberated, modern attitude toward men, and instead seek one man carefully and seriously.”
Oh brother.
I don’t think you actually get out of the house very much. Way off the mark. Traditional? Conservative? As a long-term resident, it seems the majority of women who I’ve seen working in office situations certainly try to appear that way, and parrot the sort of phrases you used, but the reality is far different.
I think the four women featured in this article should sue Metropolis for defamation of character. I’d certainly do that if I was compared to anyone in SATC.
dokool: Actually, all of the women featured here knew what the format of the article would be when they agreed to do it. We did, however, have a couple of potential “Samanthas” turn us down because they felt uncomfortable with the comparison.
singlemalt – So how much of the juice had you dipped into before logging into Metropolis and leaving your women-hating rants?
You are like so many complete jack-asses I know hiding out in Japan and avoid like the plague. probably have been here for years working some mundane job. Wouldn’t be able to get a chick back in your home country if you paid for it. Real guys don’t need to wax arrogance and pick apart the words of what seem like 4 intelligent career women who are brave enough to put their real names out there and don’t hide behind a nickname.
I’d have a single malt with any of these women over you any day.