One of Haruko's initial worries is that she would not be able to accommodate her guest with devoted care such as, making breakfast, mending and ironing clothes, and cleaning her room. Haruko's had a very big concern with clothing and appearance. Her obsession was not even to impress her husband, but to impress other women. Bernstein has to quickly learn the common forms of etiquette within the Japanese culture. The main way she is to learn this is by watching and asking questions of Haruko. Haruko is really kind of a control freak, wanting to be in charge of pretty much everything that went on in her household. This was just a sign of the times. Women's responsibilities at this time and location were not limited to just daily household chores. She would be responsibl

Seven years later Bernstein goes back out to Bessho. She finds that Sho-ichi had declared candidacy for local office. He actually wanted her to help out with the election by working on his campaign. Bernstein ends up traveling around with them as he gives speeches. Sho-ichi ends up winning the election. Their financial status has completely changed compared to when she was there before. They have a new home and better lifestyle. This is partly due to Sho-ichi's political career taking off. Haruko's view on his political career has completely changed. She is very supportive and puts endless amounts of work into his campaign. She also takes time to pay visits to different families after the election to thank them for the support they provided.

Communication begins to play a major role as to why some conflicts start to rise up between Haruko and her mother-in-law, Obasan. At the dinner table Haruko would say very little to her trying to "cut her out of the family fold." The Japanese culture encouraged communication among family members. Their family was not dysfunctional in that respect. Haruko and Obasan clashed in their struggle for power within the home. Obasan viewed the household as hers, and Haruko was trying to take it over. They did, however, agree on one thing and that was that Sho-ichi's political involvement needed to stop. He was spending a lot of time away because of it, and both women agreed that his time would have been better spent at home.

e for different appointments of any kind for her family and she also would take charge of distributing work as well.

It was hard for Bessho's farmers to make a satisfactory living using traditional methods of farming because it basically required the work of the entire family. This would take away from other duties that needed to be tended to. This would also put a hindrance on the option someone, especially women, having another job to create extra income. Sho-ichi makes a visit to the U.S. and observes how they did their farming using machinery, greatly reducing the amount of manual labor necessary. When he gets back he begins to promote this new way of farming to the locals in Bessho. The limitations of no electricity, no running water, and no automobiles made this tough to realize. Also the size of land each individual owned was very small in size, eliminating the need for combines. Sho-ichi eventually convinces the farmers to combine their separate lands into bigger ones. This would create make the use of combine more efficient and practical. All in all, the villa

Some common words found in the essay are:
Eventually Bernstein, Women's Guild, Bessho Sho-ichi, Haruko's World, Fumiko Haruko, Yoko Hisashi, Bernstein Haruko, Haruko Communication, Haruko Obasan, Haruko Haruko, haruko husband, japanese culture, political career, birth control, social setting, bernstein goes, household duties, partially due, haruko mother-in-law, sho-ichi's political,
Approximate Word count = 1732
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)