[LINK] "Was Japan once a matriarchy?"

[rfmcdonald]

imomus' quite readable post enters into debatable territory. I lack the knowledge of the area necessary to challenge it--anyone?--and blaming the decline of Japanese matriarchy on Chinese influence is potentially contentious. That said, imomus' observations on the distribution of power in male-female relationships in Japan and the way in which this differs from patterns in the West are provocative.