Michiko Kanzaki, 77, still remembers how her elementary school teachers taught her to be like "the water that complies with its container" — that is, faithful to her country, dutiful to her parents and obedient to her husband.
An active, articulate widow originally from Kobe, Kanzaki can be considered a role model for many women of her generation. She supported her husband on his successful climb up the corporate ladder and sent her two children to one of the country's top universities.
For her and the women of her time, a higher education was unthinkable. "People used to say that women needed no education. They'd tell us that all we needed to know was needlework," Kanzaki says.