Yasuko

“I worked on the thirty-sixth floor and wore high heels. The things that earned me the most money were the most foolish.” Yasuko paused, then went on, “I used to think that women needed to be independent and that independence meant going out and working to gain economic independence. But then I came to realize that it was another form of dependence, dependence on the system.… The best way is to work with your hands to support yourself.”

Yasuko and her husband, Hiroshi Kanda, live in a small village in the Miyama (“beautiful mountain”) Valley. Their house is a traditional Japanese farmhouse built of wood. It has solar-heated water for the bath and washing and a back-up gas water heater in the kitchen. Waste water drains into the garden. Inside the house, rooms are separated by sliding wood or paper doors and floors are covered with tatami mats. Shoes are left outside or in the cold stone-flagged hall, a hall that cuts through the house and is used for storing rice, sweet potatoes, dried beans, etc. The rest of the house is a steep eighteen-inch step up from the hall, and hence much warmer.