David W. Plath is Professor of Anthropology and Asian Studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

• List of Tables List of Figures Acknowledgments Introduction: Life Is Just a Job Resume?David W. Plath PART ONE: CURRENTS OF EMPLOYMENT 1. Careers and Mobility in Japan's Labor MarketsSolomon B. Levine 2. Changing Employment Patterns of WomenKaren C. Holden PART TWO: BUT AM I GETTING ANYWHERE? 3. Aborted Careers in a Public CorporationKenneth A. Skinner 4. Shiranai Station: Not a Destination But a JourneyPaul H. Noguchi PART THREE: PATHS AND PRIORITIES 5. Intertwined Careers in Medical PracticeSusan O. Long 6. Where Security Begets Security: Concurrent Careers of Local PoliticiansJack G. Lewis 7. Cataclysm and Career Rebirth: The Imperial Military EliteTheodore F. Cook Jr. PART FOUR: WORK, FAMILY AND THE HANDS OF TIME 8. The Office: Way Station or Blind Alley?James McLendon 9. The Tempo of Family FormationSamuel Coleman 10. Where Work and Family Are Almost One: The Lives of Folkcraft PottersJill Kleinberg Reflections: Timetables and the Lifecourse in Post-Industrial SocietyJulius A. Roth Index

"A lot of people will have to rethink their positions if they read this work carefully. It has great significance, both for the study of Japanese ethnology as well as for our understanding of the ways in which industrial, urban, 'mass' societies develop." — Robert J. Smith, Cornell University

David W. Plath is Professor of Anthropology and Asian Studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

• List of Tables List of Figures Acknowledgments Introduction: Life Is Just a Job Resume?David W. Plath PART ONE: CURRENTS OF EMPLOYMENT 1. Careers and Mobility in Japan's Labor MarketsSolomon B. Levine 2. Changing Employment Patterns of WomenKaren C. Holden PART TWO: BUT AM I GETTING ANYWHERE? 3. Aborted Careers in a Public CorporationKenneth A. Skinner 4. Shiranai Station: Not a Destination But a JourneyPaul H. Noguchi PART THREE: PATHS AND PRIORITIES 5. Intertwined Careers in Medical PracticeSusan O. Long 6. Where Security Begets Security: Concurrent Careers of Local PoliticiansJack G. Lewis 7. Cataclysm and Career Rebirth: The Imperial Military EliteTheodore F. Cook Jr. PART FOUR: WORK, FAMILY AND THE HANDS OF TIME 8. The Office: Way Station or Blind Alley?James McLendon 9. The Tempo of Family FormationSamuel Coleman 10. Where Work and Family Are Almost One: The Lives of Folkcraft PottersJill Kleinberg Reflections: Timetables and the Lifecourse in Post-Industrial SocietyJulius A. Roth Index

"A lot of people will have to rethink their positions if they read this work carefully. It has great significance, both for the study of Japanese ethnology as well as for our understanding of the ways in which industrial, urban, 'mass' societies develop." — Robert J. Smith, Cornell University

David W. Plath is Professor of Anthropology and Asian Studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

• List of Tables List of Figures Acknowledgments Introduction: Life Is Just a Job Resume?David W. Plath PART ONE: CURRENTS OF EMPLOYMENT 1. Careers and Mobility in Japan's Labor MarketsSolomon B. Levine 2. Changing Employment Patterns of WomenKaren C. Holden PART TWO: BUT AM I GETTING ANYWHERE? 3. Aborted Careers in a Public CorporationKenneth A. Skinner 4. Shiranai Station: Not a Destination But a JourneyPaul H. Noguchi PART THREE: PATHS AND PRIORITIES 5. Intertwined Careers in Medical PracticeSusan O. Long 6. Where Security Begets Security: Concurrent Careers of Local PoliticiansJack G. Lewis 7. Cataclysm and Career Rebirth: The Imperial Military EliteTheodore F. Cook Jr. PART FOUR: WORK, FAMILY AND THE HANDS OF TIME 8. The Office: Way Station or Blind Alley?James McLendon 9. The Tempo of Family FormationSamuel Coleman 10. Where Work and Family Are Almost One: The Lives of Folkcraft PottersJill Kleinberg Reflections: Timetables and the Lifecourse in Post-Industrial SocietyJulius A. Roth Index

"A lot of people will have to rethink their positions if they read this work carefully. It has great significance, both for the study of Japanese ethnology as well as for our understanding of the ways in which industrial, urban, 'mass' societies develop." — Robert J. Smith, Cornell University