Yu Negoro, 40, is a documentary filmmaker who has delved deep into the issues of gender and sexuality in Japanese society. Her first project was a series of three short films dealing with women suffering from eating disorders, a condition Neguro suffered in her 20s. Attributing her problems partly to conflicts with her mother, Neguro says she is now convinced that anorexia and bulimia are often the only outlets for women tormented by pressures to conform to gender stereotypes. She is now working on a film about men accused of domestic abuse, examining what social factors have driven them into turning violent toward women.
You grew up in the city of Kurashiki, Okayama Prefecture. What was your family like?
I come from a so-called "nuclear family," a family of five consisting of me, my parents and two brothers. My father was a salaryman for a major petrochemical company, and my mother was a housewife. I was an active kid early on, but I started feeling depressed when I entered junior high school. At that time, my mother was taking care of her mother-in-law. She spent 13 years just nursing her, playing the role of "the good daughter-in-law." I think I was being depressed by the situation. I felt there'd be nothing good for my life, in Kurashiki, as I could see myself just following in her footsteps, marrying another worker for the local petrochemical complex and living there as a housewife.