Yayori Matsui, author of "Women in the New Asia," worked as a journalist for the Asahi Shimbun for 30 years and now directs the Asia-Japan Women's Resource Center in Tokyo. She is a passionate advocate for women's rights and is very critical about Japan's negligent, arrogant and destructive behavior toward other Asians. At times the strident voice of righteousness backfires and complex issues are reduced to a simplistic black-and-white interpretation, but this is a powerful book with a message about important issues involving the matrix of development, globalization and women that deserves a wide readership.
Economic development has been a mixed blessing for the developing countries of Asia, and the benefits have not been equally distributed nor universally enjoyed. According to Matsui, women have suffered most from the negative consequences of development and have done most in trying to rectify the injustices and hardships that have ensued.
Her main area of concern is gender-related violence, ranging from the sexual slavery endured by the comfort women of World War II to the sordid explosion of child prostitution in the wake of the AIDS epidemic currently sweeping across Asia.